The Cunning Lion
by KnightCarter007
Summary: Harry Potter had the worst summer of his life. Deciding to embrace his more cunning side, he takes his life into his own hands, all the while deciding to have fun and score some witches along the way. Fifth Year fic. Rated M for Mature themes, suggestive tones, and lemon later on.
1. Chapter 1

"I am Harry Potter, fifteen years old, Tri-Wizard Champion, Star Seeker for the Gryffindor Team, aspiring Prefect for the House of Gryffindor, even though they don't exactly treat me like family. I... lived the first ten years of my life in a cupboard under the stairs... a few months ago I saw Voldemort return to life by using my blood... killing one of my friends..."

"A few hours ago, Dementors attacked me and my cousin whale... I saved him and I was suspended... got a piece of very helpful advice from Dumbledore to stay inside..." Harry snorted, "Like I actually have anywhere to go."

Getting tired of staring at the wall Harry ended up staring at the charred remains of the envelope from the Ministry official that had sent him, the letter was written to 'kindly' inform him that he had been suspended for using a _Patronus _Charm and that there would be a trial for that. He groaned and laid back on the bed, wincing at the hardness of it.

_"I hate my life..."_

And then, quite distinctly, Harry heard a crash in the kitchen below and stiffened.

There was no way his relatives would be back before he left for Hogwarts, and even then they'd probably wait for a while before they came back to make sure none of the 'freaks' did anything 'freakish' in their house.

He grabbed my wand quickly, hell, he had already been suspended, there was little they could do to hurt him now... well, they could send Aurors, which would be bad, but he _did_ hold his own with Voldemort...

_I'll take my chances at things, I got nothing left to lose anyway_. With that cheerful thought, Harry sprang out of his bed, ignoring the fact that he had nothing on him except for knee-length shorts. The windows were closed, there was no breeze inside the house, making his body slightly sweaty. He stood by the door and waited for Voldemort or one of his lackeys to step through the door and have to fight for his life all over again.

With a brilliant stroke of genius, Harry turned around and rummaged around in his trunk. Remembering the fact that he kept his Invisibility Cloak in it, along with the Marauder's Map, which he didn't need right now. Harry quickly wrapped the Cloak around his body, opened the window and jumped out of it.

Ignoring the pain, he quietly ran around into the back door, opening it and slipping back into the house. Now all he had to do was grab someone hostage.

Harry paused when he saw the people standing in the hallway and narrowed his eyes.

'Very clean, these Muggles.' A pink-haired woman's voice whispered.

'Where is he?' The same woman asked as she looked around the room. The woman had bubblegum hair that was very spiky and made his look very tame. Harry had to admit that it was kind of cute.

'He's supposed to be here. He would not leave this place.' A deeper voice, probably a man said, his voice indicating that he was slightly confused. The woman looked around with her brow furrowed, taking in the room, not that there is much in it.

Picking the slim woman, Harry grabbed her by the arm, ignoring her squeak of surprise and twisted it behind her. Now, it was a bit rude to do that to a lady, but she was practically pressed up to him and I can't complain much.

'Well, well, a man after my own heart. Eh, Potter?' Harry paused, Moody?

'What the hell?!' The woman demanded. Harry frowned and jabbed the wand into her neck.

'Drop your wands, people. You got five seconds before I start cursing.' He said coldly. He felt the woman's leg move and instantly knew that he had to cover his manhood. He clutched the offending leg between the sides of his knees.

'Not bad, kid. Didn't even hear you behind me.' Moody growled.

'Uh, Mad-Eye, how about you save your complements for when he's not going to rip my arm off?' The woman grunted.

'Potter, let her go. Dumbledore sent us to rescue you.' The man with the deep voice said. Harry smirked.

'Sure, sounds like a perfect excuse for Death Eaters to get me out of here. What do you have to say 'Mad-Eye'?' He asked the ex-Auror sarcastically. Moody grinned at him, his grizzled face looking that much more terrifying with that.

'...Impressive that you get of hold of Tonks. Constant Vigilance, that's good, son.' He praised.

'How do I know who you say you are?' Harry demanded.

'Harry, let me go! Seriously, we were sent here by Dumbledore.' She said.

'Hush, the adults are talking.' Tonks made an offended noise at his indifferent tone.

'Kingsley, stop it.' another man's hoarse voice stopped the dark-skinned Auror dead in his tracks, a voice that Harry recognized immediately.

Remus Lupin emerged from the dark, flames in his hand, just like the time when he had first seen the man. Harry looked at his former teacher with wide eyes. Though still quite young, Lupin looked tired and rather ill; he had more gray hair than when Harry had said good-bye to him, and his robes were more patched and shabbier than ever. Nevertheless, he was smiling broadly at Harry.

'Professor Lupin.' Harry greeted, backing away slightly. Ignoring his frigid tone, Lupin walked forward to the group, raising his hands.

'It's alright, Harry. We've come to get you out of here.' He said in what he hoped was a comforting tone.

'Right to your master, I'd bet,' Harry said in a mocking tone. Lupin was taken aback at his tone but continued undeterred.

Tonks was about to say something when Moody interrupted with a chuckle, before giving Harry an appraising eye, 'Good thinking kid, why don't you ask Lupin a question, prove that it's him. Go on.' Harry narrowed his eyes at the group.

'What is my Patronus form?' Harry asked. Remus smiled a bit.

'It's a Stag.' Harry nodded.

'What are the names of the Marauders? What was their code phrase?' Tonks grunted.

'Still not convinced?!' She asked incredulously.

'Nope, I'm not taking any chances. Voldy's out there, you know.' Harry replied with a charming and polite smile.

'Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Pronks, their motto was 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'.' Harry eyed the group for a few tense moments before pushing the woman forward towards the group. She rubbed her arm that was twisted. She turned to pout at him.

'Why me? Why not him?' She whined pointing at the tall black man, who looked mildly amused at the situation. Harry thought about his response a bit.

'Having a woman pressed up to me is more fun.' Harry replied cheekily with a smirk on his face and then he saw her glare at him.

Harry ignored the glare before staring at Remus as he asked his question, 'So why have you decided to grace me with your presence? Finally decided I exist?' Harry asked only slightly mocking left in his tone.

'Harry, we're here to take you to a safe place. Dumbledore-' Tonks started.

'Indeed? I thought the whole reason I was stuck here was that it was a 'safe place'?' Harry replied. He lowered his wand but didn't remove it from his grip.

'It is safe!' Another woman seemed to interject. Harry scoffed.

'Of course, my mistake,' Harry counted mockingly, 'The Dementors would never come here, it is a safe place, after all.'

Lupin frowned at his tone, 'Harry, I'm sorry about the attack, we had sent someone to watch over you during the summer, but it seems-'

'Wait, did you just say you've been watching me for the entire summer?' Harry demanded. He remembered the feeling of being watched throughout the summer and he now knew what it was. People were watching him.

'Er, yes.' Harry looked at him in shock and betrayal. Before his eyes hardened and he scoffed.

'Fat load a good that did, what was the guy taking a nap?' He asked rhetorically.

'He went to buy stolen goods,' Tonks replied, before feeling Moody's glare on her person, 'I mean, er,'

'Thieves? Dumbledore's hiring thieves now, eh? How nice.' He said sarcastically. There was an awkward pause.

'Nice view,' Tonks said. Harry looked at her in confusion until he realized that he didn't have a shirt on and that Tonks was eyeing him up and down. Harry blushed brightly and looked at her with wide eyes, only to see her with a small smirk on her face. He sighed in frustration before walking forward.

'Right, all of you get out I need to change.' He said, shooing the people out of his room before he slammed the door in their faces, leaving a stunned group of wizards and witches behind. Moody glared at Tonks who gained a sheepish look on her face.

'That wasn't what I was expecting.' The tall black man commented.

'Me either.' One of them commented.

'I did,' Remus replied sadly, 'I knew that Harry wasn't going to be happy that all of us followed him around all summer and the fact that he was completely left alone in a house filled with people who hated him.' Moody eyed the man.

'Aye, but Dumbledore's orders were firm, for all I know, he had the place warded so we couldn't even touch him,' Moody grunted with a sour look on his face.

A few minutes later Harry opened the door, wearing a black shirt and a black wristband that Bill Weasley had given him last year, along with some blue jeans and white sneakers, he looked at the group eyeing them all, before sighing in annoyance.

'I expected you to be gone by now.' Now, Remus was shocked, but he hid it well.

'Sirius will be there.' Harry glared at Remus for using blackmail, but the man simply smiled innocently.

'Emotional blackmail now, Moony? Well, if I'm going I need answers.' Remus nodded quickly.

'Of course, I'd expect nothing less if I were you,' Harry grunted, before walking back into his room and picking up his trunk. He walked back towards them only to see all of them eyed him nervously, some, Tonks, seemed to be scowling at him.

'Fine then, let's not wait for the grass to grow.' Harry muttered snarkily. Remus chuckled, finding it amusing. He motioned for Harry to follow him into the living room. Harry did, ignoring the looks he was getting.

'I'm sure you know, this is Alastor Moody.'.

'You don't say... good to see the real you, I guess.' Harry stopped himself from calling him, Professor. The man who had taught him for an entire year was not Alastor Moody, but Barty Crouch Jr., not a great memory.

'If you say so, sonny,' Alastor grunted.

'This is Nymphadora Tonks, but she prefers to be called by her last name.' Tonks scowled at Remus for using her first name. She then turned to him and gave a wink and a saucy smirk. Harry grinned even through his blush.

'And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt' — he indicated the tall black wizard, who bowed — 'Elphias Doge' — the wheezy-voiced wizard nodded — 'Dedalus Diggle —'

'We've met before,' squeaked the excitable Diggle, dropping his top hat.

'— Emmeline Vance' — a stately looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head — 'Sturgis Podmore' — a square-jawed wizard with thick, straw-colored hair winked — 'and Hestia Jones.' A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch waved from next to the toaster.

Harry inclined his head at each of them as they were introduced. He wondered why so many of them were there, while he felt a bit bad at treating them the way he had, he couldn't bring himself to apologize.

'A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you,' said Lupin, as though he had read Harry's mind; the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Harry took a deep breath, feeling guilty now. They had volunteered to help him and he was acting like a git to them.

'Well, I apologize for the attitude, ladies, and gentlemen. I thought you were Lord Noseless' lackeys.' Harry 'apologized' and a few snickered.

'Whatever, the more the better,' said Moody darkly. 'We're your guard, Potter.'

'We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off,' said Lupin, glancing out of the kitchen window. Harry too, looked out of the window but blinked when he didn't see anything. What exactly were they waiting for?

'So, how do you plan on taking me to - wherever we're going?' Harry asked. The Burrow was out of the question since he was sure that it would've been the Weasley's who would come to pick him up.

'Brooms,' said Lupin, seeing Harry's flat look, he added 'Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network, and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey.'

'Remus says you're a good flier,' said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice. Harry blushed slightly.

'Eh, I'm not bad, I guess.' He waved it off awkwardly, 'But I guess flying is better than Portkeys.' He added, making all of them look at him weirdly. Tonks nodded sagely.

'Indeed, I can relate to your distaste for Portkeys. I never could quite land on my own two feet.' Harry tilted his head but just nodded.

'Me neither.'

'We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry —'

'Waste of good ink,' said Harry dismissively.

'That you're safe —'

'They'd be disappointed.' He replied sarcastically.

'— and you'll see them next summer.' Harry groaned.

'Aw, come on.' Lupin looked amused at his whine but gave no answer.

'Come here, boy,' said Moody gruffly, beckoning Harry toward him with his wand. 'I need to use Disillusion on you.' Harry blinked but went towards him cautiously. He wouldn't be surprised if the man suddenly cast a _Stupefy _at him to enforce 'Constant Vigilance!'

Moody noticed his tense look and snorted, 'Relax boy, I'm not going to curse you.' Harry smirked.

'Constant Vigilance, remember?' He said, cheekily, fingering his wand. Moody grunted in agreement, and hit Harry on his head, hard. Harry felt like the man had smashed an egg on top of his head, and he felt a tingling sensation in his body.

Harry looked down, noticing that his body had become like that of the Chameleon he had seen on the TV sometimes.

'...Cool.'

'Nice one, Mad-Eye,' said Tonks appreciatively, staring at Harry's midriff. Harry ignored her this time.

-x-x-x-

'Here we go!' called Tonks, and a few seconds later she had landed. Harry touched down right behind her and dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the middle of a small square. Tonks was already unbuckling Harry's trunk.

'Kids, these days, always complaining.' Moody grunted as he passed by them. Tonks shared an annoyed looked with Harry as she rubbed her arms to keep the cold away. Shivering, Harry looked around.

The grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors, and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps. 'What's this...?'

'Don't ask too many questions, Potter.' He growled, Harry's brow furrowed and he read the paper and blinked.

_The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. _He read it in his mind, so as not to annoy Mad-Eye Moody, of all people, any more than he already had.

Alastor snatched the paper out of his hand, making Harry stare at his hand dumbly. The others shook their head resignedly as Moody set fire to the parchment. Harry didn't know why exactly did the ex-Auror had done that, but he didn't say anything. Barty Crouch's imitation of Moody might be convincing, but the real Moody took all of that acting and took it to an extreme never heard before.

Harry looked around at the houses again. They were standing outside number eleven; he looked to the left and saw number ten; to the right, however, was number thirteen.

'But where's — ?'

'Think about what you've just memorized,' said Lupin quietly. Harry thought, and no sooner had he reached the part about number twelve, Grimmauld Place, than a battered door emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows. It was as though an extra house had inflated, pushing those on either side out of its way. Harry gaped at it. The stereo in number eleven thudded on. It seems like the Muggles inside hadn't even felt anything.

_Fidelius Charm_ he realized. Harry had read about that Charm out of mild curiosity. Though he didn't know much about it, he knew that it conceals the location of the place that only the Secret-Keeper knew.

Then he frowned, practically _feeling _the Dark Magic and a sense of cruelty and evil that seemed to seep out of the house.

_This is a safe place? This feels like something right up Riddle's alley. _Harry thought as he resisted the urge to pull out his wand.

'Come on, hurry,' growled Moody, prodding Harry in the back.

Harry walked up the worn stone steps, staring at the newly materialized door. Its black paint was shabby and scratched. The silver door knocker was in the form of a twisted serpent. There was no keyhole or letterbox. Lupin pulled out his wand and tapped the door once. Harry heard many loud, metallic clicks and what sounded like the clatter of a chain. The door creaked open.

'Get in quick, Harry,' Lupin whispered. 'But don't go far inside and don't touch anything.' Harry stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. He could smell damp, dust, and a sweet, rotting smell; the place had the feeling of a derelict building. He looked over his shoulder and saw the others filing in behind him. Tonks had shrunk both his trunk and Hedwig's cage and had given it to him, both of which he had kept in his pocket.

'Here-' Before Harry could even register what happened Moody rapped Harry hard over the head with his wand; Harry felt as though something hot was trickling down his back this time and knew that the Disillusionment Charm must have lifted.

'Dammit, old man!' Moody grinned at him, nearly making Harry shudder at all those scars that made the grizzled Auror look like a psycho killer from some Muggle Movie.

'Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here,' Moody whispered. The others' hushed voices were giving Harry an odd feeling of foreboding; it was as though they had just entered the house of a dying person. He heard a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls. Harry heard something scuttling behind the baseboard. Both the chandelier and the candelabra on a rickety table nearby were shaped like serpents.

There were hurried footsteps and Molly Weasley, emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried toward them, though Harry noticed that she was rather thinner and paler than she had been last time he had seen her. 'Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!' she whispered, pulling him into a rib-cracking hug.

'You too...' Harry gasped out.

She pulled away before holding him at arm's length and examining him critically. 'You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid...' Harry shrugged.

'It's fine, Mrs. Weasley. I can wait...' Harry trailed off as soon as he saw the black-haired wizard behind the door that Mrs. Weasley had just arrived from. A smile instantly took place on his face, when he recognized the shabby, yet a much better-looking form of Sirius Black, his Godfather.

'Padfoot...' He whispered and began to walk towards the door. Molly noticed this and stopped him, though it pained her, in multiple ways, for Harry to ignore her and walk towards someone else. Molly grudgingly acknowledged that Sirius had more claim over Harry than she ever did or ever will.

She turned to the gang of wizards behind him and whispered urgently, 'He's just arrived, the meeting's started...' The wizards behind Harry all made noises of interest and excitement and began filing past Harry toward the door through which Molly had just come. Harry frowned when Molly stopped him from following them, and his frown deepened when Remus gave a sheepish look before walking towards the door. Harry growled, and that made Remus stop and turn around.

'I thought you promised me information, Moony?' Lupin looked pained at the cold tone of the son of his best friend.

'I did, I know that, but you need to wait until the meeting is done. Only members of the Order of Phoenix are allowed in.' Harry glared at the man and he cringed.

'Is that old coot inside?' Molly gasped at the disrespect shown by Harry.

Remus looked surprised and looked like he was resisting the urge to snort, 'Yes, I'd assume so, I have not yet been inside.' He said, in slight confusion. Harry took a deep breath to reign in his temper.

'Fine, whatever.' Remus and Molly were left gaping at him as he left them and walked upstairs, ignoring the call of Molly. He felt so betrayed by Remus, the man had practically lied to get him here. Harry sighed again, realizing that he had been doing a lot of that over the past summer, and began to walk up the stairs that Molly had directed him to.

He started up the dark staircase, passing a row of shrunken heads mounted on plaques on the wall. A closer look showed Harry that the heads belonged to house-elves. All of them had the same rather snout-like nose. Harry's bewilderment deepened with every step he took. What on earth were they doing in a house that looked as though it belonged to the Darkest of wizards?

He caught a brief glimpse of a gloomy high-ceilinged, twin-bedded room, then there was a loud twittering noise, followed by an even louder shriek, and his vision was completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair — Hermione had thrown herself onto him in a hug that nearly knocked him flat, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads.

'HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here!' Hermione shrieked excitedly.

'Yes, quite...' Harry said blankly.

'We didn't hear from you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless — but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got to tell us — the dementors! When we heard — and that Ministry hearing — it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's a provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations-'

'Let the man breathe, Hermione.' He said grinning at Harry. Before Harry could reply, there was a soft and elegant 'hoot' and a beautiful snowy-white Owl landed on Harry's shoulder gently. Harry, already smiling, looked at his shoulder to find his owl.

'Hedwig.' He said fondly. The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately as Harry stroked her feathers.

'She's been in a right state,' said Ron. 'Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this —' He showed Harry the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but deep cut.

'Well, I wanted the information.' Harry said indifferently.

'We wanted to give answers to you, mate,' said Ron, nervously. 'Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us—'

'-Swear not to tell me, how nice of him.'

There was an awkward silence in which Harry stroked Hedwig automatically, not looking at either of the others. 'He seemed to think it was best,' said Hermione rather breathlessly.

'Dumbledore, I mean.'

'Of course he did,' said Harry. He noticed that her hands too bore the marks of Hedwig's beak and found that he was not at all sorry.

'I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles-' Ron began.

'Yeah?' said Harry, raising his eyebrows, before he scoffed. 'Have either of you been attacked by dementors this summer?'

'Well, no-'

'Didn't think so.' He replied as he pulled out Hedwig's cage, and began to wonder how the hell he was going to make it come back to size.

'But Harry, you were the safest there! There were people from the Order of the Phoenix trail you all the time!' Hermione replied indignantly.

Harry felt a great jolt in his guts as though he had just missed a step going downstairs. So everyone had known he was being followed except him.

"Didn't work that well, though, did it?" said Harry, doing his utmost to keep his voice even. "Had to look after myself after all, didn't I?"

Both Ron and Hermione were struck by his question, not knowing how to answer him without angering him even more. They had never seen their friend in such a way before, he was always calm and collected one, for the most part.

'Harry, the Death Eaters-' Hermione began again, but Harry cut her off.

'Hermione, you are a Muggle-born. Have you ever looked into the phonebook? I'm sure there are not many Harry Potter's in the area.' Harry added with a deep scowl, as Hermione paled. She had never thought of using a phone and certainly hadn't thought about the fact that you only had to look through the phone book to find him.

'Dumbledore was furious. We saw him. When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary.'

'Well, I'm glad he left,' Harry said coldly. 'If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and Dumbledore would probably have left me at Privet Drive all summer.'

'Aren't you . . . aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?' said Hermione quietly.

'The Ministry can kiss my arse, for all I care.' Hermione gasped at that. He walked away from them, looking around, with Hedwig nestled contentedly on his shoulder, but this room was not likely to raise his spirits. It was dank and dark. A blank stretch of canvas in an ornate picture frame was all that relieved the bareness of the peeling walls and as Harry passed it he thought he heard someone lurking out of sight snigger.

'You know what? Screw it, I'm tired, I'll be in my room... wherever the hell that is.' Harry muttered and began to walk towards the door. He heard Hermione gasp and Ron, who made an indignant noise.

'Mate, we're supposed to room together.' Harry stopped and turned around just enough to let them see a single green eye.

'Nope, I'm good. I need some space from you and your snoring.' Ron frowned but sighed, looking understanding. Harry turned back around and Hermione was suddenly in front of him and Harry blinked.

'What?'

'Harry, I'm sorry.' Harry grunted when she rammed into him and hugged him tightly. Distinctly he felt two moderate-sized globes press into him and he mentally grinned lecherously.

'Please, Harry, you know I can't go against Headmaster Dumbledore's orders, I'm sorry.' She sounded like she was about to cry, which she probably was. Harry patted her on the back awkwardly.

'Soft... Ten Points for Gryffindor.' Harry breathed out and she squeaked, understanding what he was saying. Hermione pulled away with a blush on her face, Harry looked down slightly at her, momentarily thanking Sirius since he was practically the reason he had started to eat well. Now he was taller than her, and she had to look up at him. The difference wasn't a lot but was enough to be noticed.

'Were you saying something?' Hermione shook her head, her hair hitting him slightly in the face, and he raised an eyebrow.

'Well, what do you know, Hermione Granger likes strawberry flavor perfume.' Harry ignored her blush once again and grinned slightly to himself for making the epitome of stern and proper Hermione Granger blush twice. He then frowned when he remembered that he was supposed to be mad at her.

_Eh, whatever. _He was mad that she had not even written to him and planned on staying mad for a while until she specified why she was apologizing. Ron probably had to listen considering that the words of Albus Dumbledore were practically gospel to his mother and he practically forced to obey and face the consequences. Hermione, on the other hand, didn't surprise him as much if the Headmaster had forbidden her from writing to him then she probably had to listen. He shrugged mentally, he'll think about what to do tomorrow when he wasn't as tired and hungry as he was right now.

Ignoring the fact that he had never been in this house before, he was determined to find what the hell this place was, Harry set about exploring the dark mansion. Finding nothing interesting that didn't look like it was about to eat him alive, he eventually made his way downstairs. He looked at the door that the members of the 'Order' had gone into.

He grinned at the thought of making an epic entrance and strode purposefully downwards.

About halfway the curtain that he had previously failed to notice opened suddenly and Harry stared at it, bored.

The woman in the portrait was perhaps, at one time, pretty. But not anymore. She looked barney, wild hair, mad blue eyes, and slightly rotten teeth. She looked around, looking like she was about to scream, before blinking when she only saw Harry in front of her.

She narrowed her eyes, 'Who are you?' She barked and Harry was for a moment struck about how to answer. Channeling his inner-Lockheart, he answered.

'Harry Potter, Order of Merlin, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League and Tri-Wizard Champion.' He flashed her a smile full of his charm and flashing white teeth at her. Her eyebrow's rose, if they weren't so unkept Harry would have thought the gesture to be elegant.

'Order of Merlin, don't make me laugh, boy, you can't be a day over twelve.' Harry looked offended.

'I would like to inform you, ma'am, that I'm fifteen. But whatever, you know where I can eat and go take a nap?' Her eyebrows rose.

'You can pick whatever room you want I suppose, finally someone who actually knows the tradition and doesn't look like an utter fool...' Harry paused wondering if he should tell her that he knew nothing about tradition, but finally decided against it.

'Ah, indeed?' There was a fire in her eyes as she said this.

'Yes! Absolutely! Blood traitors, mudbloods, half-breeds walking around like they own the place, why when I was here, this used to be a respected house! The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black!' Harry was shocked, but outwardly he kept his face a polite mask. This was Sirius' house!

'Sounds very respectful, m'lady.' Harry said and felt the need to rinse his tongue with soap. He knew the woman was at least a little bit crazy considering her appearance, which was exactly like he expected a psychotic person would look like.

She nodded somberly, 'Indeed it was, it has fallen from grace now, but back in the day, it used to be a beautiful place. Orion was very proud of it.' Her eyes turned sad at the mention of 'Orion' but suddenly vanished as soon as it appeared.

'What are you doing here? The only people here are my blood traitor son and his group.' She spat out the word 'son' like it was poison. Harry guessed that she meant Sirius and the Weasleys, along with the rest of the 'Order'.

'Yes, well, the place I was staying was not exactly safe, so I was brought here. This place is pretty filthy though, no offense, ma'am.'

'No offense taken, young man. You are quite right. I suppose I have let it go a bit too much, more than I thought.' She looked lost in her old days so Harry decided to take his leave. He smiled brightly at her once again and bowed slightly, and she paused for a moment, looking struck before bowing back slightly.

Harry was about to walk away from her when Sirius suddenly rushed in towards him, and Harry blinked, 'Sorry about that, kid. She's my wonderful mother, quite the character isn't she?' Sirius said with a wry smile.

Harry's brow furrowed, 'Come on, I've had a perfectly civil conversation with her a few moments ago.' As if hearing Sirius' voice summoned her, she suddenly appeared in her portrait again, and catching sight of Sirius, she exploded.

'YOU! FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR, DON'T YOU DARE DISRESPECT THIS YOUNG MAN, HE IS MORE POLITE AND MORE OF A GENTLEMAN THAN YOU COULD EVER BE!' Mrs. Black, as Harry assumed she was, screeched at Sirius. Sirius' jaw dropped.

'H-he, w-what?' Mrs. Black huffed.

'Take care of the boy's needs, blood traitor, I like him and if you offend him or insult him anyway, I'll make your life a living hell!' She growled at Sirius, who looked utterly flummoxed. Harry grinned at Sirius' expression.

'Thank you, Mrs. Black. I am most grateful for your hospitality.' Harry said politely before bowing slightly. Her eyes softened slightly, shocking the utter bollocks out of Sirius. She nodded at him and the curtain of her portrait closed.

Harry grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled him away from the portrait, grinning all the way at his utterly floored expression. Once they were out of sight of the portrait, Harry turned to Sirius. Sirius looked down at his godson.

'Kiddo, what did you do to her?' Sirius looked horrified that Mrs. Black was acting civil, especially to his godson. Harry smiled brilliantly at his godfather.

'Moi? I did nothing to her, Sirius, I've only been a perfect and honest gentleman and she was impressed.' Sirius worked his jaw for a few moments and Harry felt like he should be a fish Animagus rather than a dog.

Finally, he shook his head, 'She didn't start randomly yelling at you?' He enquired.

'Nope, she's a real dear.' Sirius looked like he didn't know how to respond before he shook himself out of his shock and sighed before he grinned at Harry. Harry then found himself to be the subject of another tight hug, only this one wasn't suffocating. Harry returned his godfather's hug and after a few moments, Sirius pulled back and examined him critically.

'Hmm, you've grown up, kid. Gotten laid yet?' Sirius said poking Harry in the chest. Harry blushed brightly and pushed his hand away.

'No, and you should tell Mrs. Weasley that I've grown up, still tells me I'm too skinny.' Sirius laughed at his godson's blush, before smiling.

'Eh, your old man was pretty scrawny when he was around your age, and Lily was pretty slender herself. It might just be the genes.' Sirius said with a shrug. Harry knew that Sirius had an idea of what his life with the Dursley's might have been, but he appreciated the fact that Sirius understood he didn't want to talk about it.

'...Alright, listen, I had a feeling that I'd be meeting you when I heard my mother's voice, so I got you this.' Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a mirror and Harry stared at it with a deadpan look on his face.

'Gee thanks Sirius, now I can finally admire my handsome looks.' Harry replied sarcastically, reaching over and taking the mirror from his extended hands. Sirius barked out a laugh.

'No, silly boy, tap it twice with your wand and say my name.' Harry raised an inquisitive eyebrow when Sirius pulled out another mirror identical to the one he gave Harry but shrugged and pulled out his wand. He tapped it twice,

'Sirius Black.'

Suddenly, there was an image of Sirius on his face and saw the image grin. Harry looked at Sirius who was having an identical grin to the one in the mirror.

'Whaddya think?' Harry was startled when he heard the voice come from the mirror along with the Sirius Black in front of him.

'Wow, communication mirrors?' He asked excitedly and Sirius nodded with a bright grin on his face.

'Yup, now I don't have to tell you that you can't exactly use it in front of everyone, right?'

'Yeah, I know, but doesn't it have any protection against someone using it?' Sirius nodded.

'It does, you can tap it twice and it only reflects your own face, though you can still hear my voice.' Sirius grinned thinking of all the pranks he had pulled, with that particular feature. James and Lily, in particular, had lots of... _fun_ with it.

'What a shame.' Harry said brightly. Sirius scoffed but smiled fondly at his godson. Before he suddenly groaned, Harry looked at him.

'What?'

'The meeting. Damn it.' He sighed, 'Sorry, Harry. But I gotta go, we'll talk more at dinner.' Harry was a bit disappointed, but understood. He planned on spending the summer going getting to know his godfather, another small while or so won't hurt.

'Alright.' Sirius smiled and ruffled his hair, and Harry grunted, allowing it, and watched as Sirius put his mirror in his pocket, and walked off, muttering about 'annoyingly bossy women' along the way and Harry grinned. Seems like Sirius and Mrs. Weasley don't get along well.

There was a crack suddenly behind Harry and before the new entries could even get a word out, Fred found a wand pressed to his throat, and George froze. Both of them looked wide-eyed at Harry. They hadn't even noticed him getting his wand out!

'Easy there, Harry we meant no harm,'

'We thought we heard your dulcet tones so we came to give you a visit.' Harry put his wand down and looked at, what he could honestly say, were his favorite of the Weasleys.

'Sorry, Fred.' Harry had figured out how the twins were always arranged out of sheer boredom over the summer. Fred always appeared at the left, while George appeared at the right. Fred waved him off.

'No problem, Harry-'

'You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out-'

'There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you-'

'But want to hear something more interesting?' He asked with a face-splitting grin on his face. Harry raised his eyebrow when he saw the ear hanging off a flesh-colored string. He slowly nodded but wondered if it even worked.

'Sure, I guess.' He replied.

Both of them gave him a Cheshire cat-like grin and headed off towards the staircase, but before they could get there, Harry stopped.

'Wait, Fred, George.' The twins paused and looked at Harry. Harry pulled out a mirror and stood in between the twins, who looked at it curiously.

'What is it, Harry?' George asked, staring at the mirror and poked it with his finger, only to yelp when Harry smacked it away.

'This, you guys, is a communication mirror Sirius gave me, it can help me communicate with him anywhere, anytime.' They looked at it in awe while Harry puffed out his chest. Fred examined it closely, before nodding.

'Alright then, let's see just how 'boring' the meeting is going to be.' Fred said with a devious grin directed at his twin. Said twin had the same grin and when the looked at their companion, they noticed that he too, had the same grin on his face. Harry decided that this was the reason Sirius had given him the mirror all along.

He was about to tap the mirror he heard another voice.

'Hey, Harry!' A perky female voice said from Harry's right. Harry turned, already knowing who it was. Sure enough, it was Ginny Weasley. But it wasn't the Ginny Weasley he remembered,

_Good lord..._ He thought as he gazed at Ginny. Her slightly tanned skin, on high display with her black tank-top and blue jeans short that, put her long legs on clear display. Her hair was tied into a loose ponytail, with two bangs on either side of her face. Harry had never really seen how cute she was.

He mentally slapped himself for his thoughts and nodded at her, and gave her a dashing grin, 'Hey, Ginny.' He greeted.

Ginny came to a stop next to him so that she was between him and George. She blinked when she saw the string and the ear connected to it, before sighing and giving an exasperated look at Fred and George. To be honest, Harry was surprised that she was even talking in his presence without stuttering. She seemed to have gotten over his crush to a certain degree.

'Really? You're trying this again?' She asked.

'Oh, dear sister don't be so innocent,

'We know that you've been trying to get in there using different Charms and all that,'

'Besides, that'll work Mum probably doesn't expect us to do this again so she wouldn't have guarded anything.'

'Although, right on his first day here, ickle Harrikins came up with a foolproof plan to... peek at the Order's meetings.' George whispered as if he was giving out the secrets of the universe. Ginny's eyebrows rose and she looked at Harry in surprise.

'Really?' She sounded rather excited.

'Indeed, the method right from Padfoot himself.' Fred said with admiration in his voice.

'The plan is mine, though, remember?' Harry said in a smug tone.

Harry watched them, amused and then coughed when he felt giddy eyes on him, he looked at his mirror and pulled out his wand, and tapped it twice. He paused for a second before deciding that he'd rather speak low if what he assumed about the mirror was true.

'Sirius Black.' Harry said lowly. There was a sound of clothes being moved when Harry saw the chin of his godfather. They saw that Sirius gave Harry a proud look that made him stand up straighter. Sirius gave a subtle wink, and he spoke,

'...If anyone has a right to know it's Harry! If it wasn't for him, wouldn't have even known that Voldemort has returned!' He seemed to pause, 'He's not a child, Molly!' Harry nodded in agreement.

'He's not an adult either!' Came the unmistakable voice of Molly Weasley in her shrill tone, 'He's not James, Sirius!' Harry stiffened at the mention of his father. The rest of the Weasley's looked awkward and uncomfortable at their mother casually saying that to Sirius.

'He's not your son, either!' Sirius seemed to yell.

'He's as good as!'

'Just as good as? That does not make him your son, he is my godson!'

'That does not give you the right to go against Albus' orders! He does not need to know anything more than he does!' Molly seemed to shriek. Harry seemed to pout at this. Well, what they don't know, is that he heard everything. So, in their faces.

'And that old twit! What does he think he's doing, introducing that old dirtbag Fletcher into the Order of Phoenix?!' Harry finally knew that he was at the Headquarters of the 'Order of Phoenix'. The group knew that Sirius was giving them information, Harry specifically.

'Sirius Black, don't you dare disrespect the Headmaster! If it wasn't for him, you would still be in prison!' Molly screamed and Harry could just imagine her face getting red. Harry took a deep breath to calm himself and then noticed with a start that Ginny was closer than he thought. She was leaning against the railing right next to him and Harry fought down a blush valiantly. It didn't exactly work, but Ginny was way too focused on a boring conversation to notice.

'Actually, it was thanks to Harry that I'm not in prison, or actually as the planned, dead.' Sirius revealed, with a smirk on his face and Harry felt the urge to throttle his godfather. No doubt he saw what happened to him. He saw the twins and Ginny look at him in surprise, and Harry knew they wanted to know what happened in that year.

'Later.' He mouthed to them and they nodded silently.

There were several whispers and then a voice that Harry recognized at Tonks spoke up.

'You have to inform him about something. Anything, the only reason he came here was on the promise of answers.' He heard her say.

'Yes, Molly, he didn't seem to happy with being left alone in that place, and I promised him information.' Harry was rather glad that Moony remembered that. He mentally noted to get the man something nice for Christmas.

'WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT? YOU HEARD WHAT THE HEADMASTER SAID, HARRY IS NOT READY AND THAT IS FINAL!' Harry tried not to let the anger show at the woman. He really didn't appreciate being treated like a kid when he saw what he saw, and Molly seemed to treat him like he's made of glass.

'Why don't we let Harry decide? Now, what did Dumbles say about the thing the Order is protecting?' Harry raised his eyebrows. The Order was protecting something? And they've managed to do it well?

Pigs must be flying, they must be!

'DON'T CALL THE HEADMASTER THAT!' Even Ginny, Fred and George looked annoyed at her shrill tone. Harry was very annoyed, thankfully she had never screamed at him, but now he knew how shrill her voice is, he no longer had a wish to hear it.

There were a few snickers, and chuckles, particularly that from Remus, and it was indeed the werewolf who answered it, 'Well, there are some of our members by the Department of Mysteries that are guarding it, but other than that it's been quiet.'

'Is that so?' Arthur Weasley's calm voice sounded out of the mirror.

'Yep, there's been a talk of Harry's trial, but Dumbledore's been working on it, so it should be fine.' Came Tonks' bored tone.

'Can I come?' Sirius' voice sounded bored as if he already knew the answer.

'Sirius, you know the answer to that.' Remus' voice sounded tired. Sirius rolled his eyes.

'Yeah, yeah, it's been a month and I'm going mental. Next thing I'll be having tea with Kreacher while discussing Muggle fashion sense.' Harry nearly laughed at Sirius' sarcastic tone and Ginny seemed to smother a giggle with her hand. Fred and George snickered quietly.

'Heh, don't I know it.' Remus said.

There was a pause, 'Well! If we're quite done, let's call the brats down and have dinner. Good talk, ladies and gentlemen, quite productive.' Sirius said sarcastically. Tonks' giggle sounded from the mirror. Sirius looked down and grinned before the mirror went blank, and began to reflect their faces.

'Very productive indeed.' Harry said dryly. Ginny giggled.

'You don't say.' The twins drawled together.

'What are you doing?' A bossy tone sounded and the twins let out girly yelps. Harry on the other hand simply smiled brightly at her.

'Hermione, just the witch I wanted to see... kinda.' The twins and Ginny smothered their snickers, 'Anyway! Truly, what a sight you are, we were just discussing about how Dragons would not be an ideal food for Pixies. Care to join us?' Harry said.

Hermione frowned, 'Do you have to sound so sarcastic?' She asked dryly.

'Sarcasm is an art darling if it was a science I'd already have my PhD.' Harry replied without missing a beat and grinned when he saw her screw her eyes shut in frustration at not getting a straight answer from him.

A while later, Molly Weasley appeared, the group that had listened in on their discussion acted completely innocent, with Harry and Ginny sitting on a couch and Harry explaining something to her, the twins were in a corner discussing something, quite hush-hush. Hermione was reading a book, occasionally sending a dark look at the twins and Ron looking bored.

She called them down for dinner, never suspecting a thing and Harry shared a secret high-five with the twins.

-x-x-x-x-

_Well, that went better than I expected it to._

_Leave a review._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Seriously, do I need to write this?_

Down at the dinner, Sirius was sitting at the head of the table and Harry quickly snatched up the seat next to him. They both shared a secret grin before returning to their usual solemn expression. Remus sat down on Harry's side and Ginny sat down on Sirius'. Harry had ignored Molly's attempt to make him sit away from Sirius and was now looking at Tonks' who was amusing Ginny with her Metamorphmagus abilities.

The woman, feeling his eyes on her, looked at him and winked, and Harry smiled charmingly at her. Most of the conversation was from Molly who was berating Bill Weasley about his haircut, and the twins for wanting to replicate it. Harry poked at his empty plate and resisted the urge to yawn.

Eventually, it was Hermione who broke the silence, 'Harry?'

'Yes, my dear?' Harry said with a deadpan look. Sirius snickered.

'...Are you still angry?' The conversation around the table seemed to stop immediately and the entire focus of the people at the table was on Harry and Hermione.

'Yes, this is my angry face.' Harry said, pointing towards his face with a bright smile on his face. There were a few scattered chuckles around the table.

Ah, he had such an impeccable wit.

'Harry, this is serious.' Funnily enough, Ron did indeed look quite serious. Harry, on the other hand, was not.

'No, Hermione, I'm not angry, I'm not stupid even if you think so, and I blame Dumbledore.' Harry cut her off before she could correct him about him being _Professor _Dumbledore. 'No Ron, I'm not angry at you either. But you are on your last line.' Ron looked confused for a moment before he looked horrified at what Harry was implying. He then slumped, realizing that he did indeed deserve it.

'I'm sorry, mate.' He said, his voice lacking his usual enthusiasm. Harry felt a bit bad, he supposed he was being a bit hard on him.

'I said, it's fine. Don't try to guilt-trip me.' Harry said, rolling his eyes at the worst innocent face he had ever seen in his life, even worse than Dudley's, 'But you need to earn my trust once again, both of you.' Harry said.

'Anything!' Hermione said quickly. Harry raised an eyebrow.

'Really? _Anything?'_ Harry said with a sly grin and Hermione blushed.

'Nothing like _that_.' She said, quite affronted. Harry pretended to think.

'You can do my Potions assignment for the month.' Harry said dismissively. Hermione gasped in horror.

'But, but-'

'Or you can... _help _me in other ways.' Harry said, staring unabashedly at her chest. She crossed her arms.

'Fine, but you will write it, and I will help you.' Harry shrugged.

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

'Good.' She said shortly, looking quite affronted.

'Great.'

'Magnificent.'

'Absolutely spiffing.'

'Alright, that's enough you two.' Molly interrupted. She still looked a bit angry, and quite mortified by _children _making such innuendoes but Harry couldn't really bring himself to care too much. Sirius, who was watching the two best friends suddenly perked up.

'I sense some tension between the two, I say~' Harry and Hermione looked at the man who looked giddy, 'You two get a room and work it out, you know, _alone~' _He said suggestively. Harry and Hermione gaped, looked at each other and blushed bright enough to make them look like they were going to implode.

'SIRIUS BLACK!' There was a roar of laughter from Tonks, Bill, and the Twins. Arthur and the others were amused while Ron snickered.

'Sirius, they are fifteen!' If only Harry didn't see the werewolf nearly choking on his own spit from laughing, he'd think that Remus was disappointed.

'Harry, have you thought of the trial?' Bill Weasley, always the one to avoid awkward situations asked. Harry looked at the eldest of the Weasley brats and nodded solemnly.

'Yep, how it's absolute crap that they want me to face a trial for something as simple as Underage Magic. Wonder why that is.' Harry said, looking pointedly at Sirius. The man scoffed.

'The 'absolute crap' part is right, kid. Fudge is pretty desperate to get you out of the scene.' Sirius said angrily. Harry looked at him surprised.

'And pray tell, what exactly is it that I've done to wrong him?' Harry demanded to the table at the whole. Molly frowned but said nothing. She realized that he needed to know some things to make sure he got out clean from the trial.

'You are the one who saw Voldemort return.' The brave ones ignored the shudders and wincing from the brave souls around the table. 'Accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years,' said Sirius bitterly. 'Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him.'

'You see the problem,' said Lupin. 'While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor-mongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse.' He explained.

'And what exactly have you vigilant folks have done to right that?' Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. They looked a bit ashamed.

'Absolutely nothing.' Sirius said firmly. Harry snorted.

'Nice. That ought to convince the Ministry.' Harry replied sarcastically.

'The Headmaster is doing the best he can, Sirius.' Molly said with an angry undertone.

'If this is his best, I don't think I want to see his worst.' Sirius said with a scoff. Harry rolled his eyes.

There was an awkward silence when Harry and Sirius began to pull their little act. Harry looked directly at Remus, surprising the werewolf.

'Well?' Remus blinked.

'Yes, Harry?' Harry raised an eyebrow. Remus stared.

Harry stared back.

Remus sighed.

Harry raised his other eyebrow, 'I think you get what I mean?' He stated rather than ask.

Remus nodded, 'Yes, I do, you want answers.' Harry grinned.

'There, that wasn't hard, was it?' Remus sighed.

'Well, what do you want to know?' Of course, Molly Weasley decided to interrupt the duo with her shrill voice. Harry had, of course, been expecting her to explode when he asked questions about He-Who-Cannot-Smell.

'Harry, I know that you've been through a harsh summer, but you cannot know anything more than you _need to know_.' She seemed so satisfied with her words as if feeling that Harry would listen to her without question. Harry sighed, but inwardly he smirked. He loved destroying people's expectations.

So he liked to have fun, sue him. He'll win, he's got a shit-load of money.

'Well, I need to know why I haven't heard of anything suspicious...' Harry replied cheekily with wide, innocent eyes. Molly, considering that she's raised two troublemakers their entire lives, wasn't fooled at all.

'You need to be a member of the Order of Phoenix!' She snapped. Harry frowned but was laughing inwardly. He already knew everything he wanted to know. His reputation's being shredded by the _Prophet_, which he knew from Ron and the twins. Dumbledore's lost a lot of his popularity with Fudge dragging him through the mud by his stupid white beard.

Oh, that and these guys were protecting something in the Department of Mysteries. All it took is one magic mirror.

'I don't particularly care what Dumbledore wants, he left me alone with those _things _he calls my family, he forbade my friends from writing to me, damn near stole my owl, and even now, he wants to keep me in the dark?' Harry snorted, 'Seems like the _Prophet _is right, he is losing it.'

He looked around the table for reactions and wasn't disappointed when he saw several hanging jaws and looks of shock and horror.

Honestly, do they even know that Dumbles is a human and not an avatar of god as they seem to believe?

'HARRY JAMES POTTER, I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH DISRESPECT IN MY HOUSE, YOUNG MAN! ALBUS IS -' Sirius interrupted her, his voice calm and tightly controlled.

'I'm sorry, I must have misheard you,' He chuckled and a few people stepped back, '_your _house? I never knew that this house was _your _house, and I never knew you were Harry's mother?' Harry blinked at the polite and rage-filled tone of his godfather.

Molly huffed, 'As I said, Sirius, Harry is just as well might be one of my own, I believe that Albus knows what's best for him and I trust Albus in him to keep Harry safe, _as should you._' She ground out the last part of the statement, ignoring the part about this house belonging to Sirius. Harry frowned inwardly, not liking the way she just labeled him as one of her own, which was fine, Harry thought of her as something of a mother-figure, but she didn't have to make it sound like Sirius doesn't have any connection to him at all.

'Well, I don't.' Harry said bluntly.

Ha, breaking expectations.

Molly seemed to be shocked, 'H-Harry?' Hermione looked horrified.

'H-Harry, tell me you don't mean that?' She seemed to plead. Harry looked at her blankly.

'Hermione, I always mean what I say.' He said, finding the question quite stupid. Then he paused for a second, 'I may not always mean to say it out loud, but I always mean it.' Sirius snorted at his words as did Remus. Harry was happy that at least the best friends of his father seemed to support him.

Life was bad, but some things were not so bad.

'Look, even if you don't give me answers, do you seriously think I won't be able to find out?' Harry asked with a raised eyebrow and smirked when he saw a few reluctant nods of agreement. They knew he'd find out somehow, he was clever like that.

'Now, I get that you are upset,' Harry snorted at Molly's choice of words, 'but only adults are allowed into the Order and even though you faced He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,'

'His name is Voldemort.' There were flinches and glares directed at him, someone even said, 'Stop saying his name!' Harry fought the urge to scoff. _T__hese_ were the people who will help fight Voldy? They're wetting their pants at the sound of his name, how the hell do they expect to fight him?

'...Regardless, you are still a child. You will go to bed now, and that is final.' She said firmly as if expecting Harry to go away like Ron was looking like he wanted to. Harry only smiled politely, the Weasleys looked at him, horrified.

'Nope.' Molly's eyes widened in anger.

'And too bad it's not your call. Harry is my godson and I have the final say... in your face.' Remus and Sirius snickered at the last words that were voiced in a low enough tone so that the Weasley Matriarch wouldn't be able to listen.

'HARRY-'

'Molly, that's enough.' Arthur's soft yet firm voice spoke out, cutting off Molly's shrill decibels before they could reach any higher. Harry had never seen such a firm look in the normally easy-going man's face. He took off his glasses.

'A-A-Arthur?' She said hesitantly, her eyes wide in shock.

'Harry is not your child, and he is old enough and mature enough to make his own decisions. He does not need someone to hold his hand, let's not forget that he fought You-Know-Who and made it back alive.' Arthur said with respect shining in his eyes and Harry sat up straighter and inclined his head.

'He's faced twice as much as anyone twice his age has. I say he deserves some credit for himself. He's definitely not a kid.' Bill offered and Harry blushed at the praise. He shook it off and gave Hermione a smug look, she narrowed her eyes.

'What they said.' Sirius said proudly.

'What he said.' Remus said, equally as proud.

'Thank you.' Harry said sincerely, and they all grinned at him.

Molly, realizing a lost argument, the first time for her, probably, deflated and looked away. Her lip was curling when she barked out, 'FINE! The rest, OUT!' Not even Fred and George said anything, they were just looking at Harry in awe. Harry gave a cocky grin and gave a mock-bow.

As Ginny passed by, Harry subtly handed her the mirror and gave her a beaming smile. She blushed brightly but nodded subtly. She glanced at Sirius, showing the mirror to him, and he inclined his head. Harry nodded at Ron and Hermione, who looked confused, but was eventually forced to go by Molly.

Harry winked at the twins, who grinned at him and Fred even ruffled his hair, causing Harry to smack his hand away. Fred laughed, Harry glowered at the less crazy twin for messing with his hair.

It already looked like it had never seen the hairbrush in its existence already!

Harry waited for Sirius to give the signal that the mirror had been activated, and once it had, Sirius discreetly passed the mirror to him. Harry looked down and saw Ginny, Fred, and George. Hmm, they seemed to have excluded Ron and Hermione. He simply shrugged, well whatever.

They'll have a taste of what it's like to be kept in the dark.

'So, what do you want to know?'

'Not a lot, I get that I'm a nutter according to the _Prophet, _they think that Dumbledore's gone mental in his old age, Fudge doesn't want to acknowledge that Voldy's back, the Ministry wants to kill me or at least get me expelled, you lot are-' He paused, realizing that he wasn't supposed to know about them guarding the thing as Sirius told him, 'actually, that's the first question, what is the 'Order of Phoenix'?' He wasn't kidding, he was genuinely curious.

'It's a vigilante group, or at least, it is now. Dumbledore's in charge, we hunt Death Eaters.' Kingsley, as Harry learned the man's name was, spoke up.

'And how far along have you gone?' The group looked a little sheepish. Harry put a mock-wondering expression on his face.

'Gee lemme guess, you've been doing your best?' Harry asked dryly.

'We're currently in the process of recruiting more members.' Moody growled, obviously not taking well to the fact that he's doing nothing to help prevent the war before it could begin.

'Speaking of which, who was the person in your esteemed clubhouse that failed to notice the Dementors?' Harry asked in a sickly sweet tone. His tone sent shivers down Sirius' back, having heard the tone from Lily countless times in the past.

'Er, well, that would be Dung.' Harry snickered.

'What an apt name.' Harry grinned.

'That is Mundungus Fletcher, he's over there.' The thing that Harry had taken to be a pile of rags startled awake, seemingly in another word. The group stared at the thing for several moments as it twitched and looked about before he yawned and turned away and began to snore.

'And you wonder why I don't trust Dumbles.' Harry said with an eye-roll. Tonks giggled and Harry saw that her breasts were larger than he remembered and he remembered them very well. He did, after all, spend half of his flying time staring at them and she knew it.

Good thing he's so freaking awesome at flying.

'Dung really is an apt name, won't you say?' She said with a grin directed at Harry.

'Yes, but you know what I want to know?' Tonks' grin faltered when she saw the innocent expression on Harry's face. She narrowed her eyes.

'What's that?'

'Is Nymphadora an apt name?' Tonks' face turned red and she reached across the table to smack him on his head. Harry got out of the way just in time, thanking his Seeker reflexes and Tonks growled.

'...You look very sexy when you're angry like that, Tonks.' Harry said with a bright, charming smile directed at the woman whose face turned red along with her hair. Sirius barked out a laugh and even Remus couldn't hold in a laugh.

'I'll get you back, brat. Just you wait.' Tonks said with a manic gleam in her eyes. Seems like crazy runs in the Black family.

'I'll be waiting in my room, Tonks. Wear something green, it matches my eyes, you know.' Harry grinned. There were a few scattered chuckled around, Harry was proud to say that he managed to fluster a hot older woman and got her pressed up to him earlier.

He could still feel the phantom tingles.

'Well, is that all?' Molly's tone was practically demanding Harry to disagree. Harry ignored it and paused, wondering what his next question would be.

'I don't suppose we, well, you can convince people that Voldemort is back?' He asked them. He was not exactly expecting a positive answer, and he didn't receive one when they all just smiled humorlessly.

'Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass murderer and the Ministry's put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?' said Sirius restlessly.

'And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,' said Lupin. 'It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.' Harry nodded sympathetically.

'Tonks and Mr. Weasley would lose their jobs if what you are saying about Fudge is true so that only leaves me.' He concluded. Mr. Weasley nodded.

'Yes, Harry. You are the only one who was openly claiming that You-Know-Who has returned and killed Cedric Diggory. So Minister Fudge has it out for you, and wants to shut you up.' Tonks added her two knuts into the conversation.

'You see, people think of you as a nutter, right now,' Harry rolled his eyes, not really surprised, 'hehe, but you still are the Boy-Who-Lived, and no amount of shite that Fudge throws at you, people will still think of you as a hero.' She said with a smile. Harry snorted in dark humor.

'Yeah, thank Merlin for that.' _At least he didn't just assume and proclaim that I killed Cedric of something. _Though he was pretty sure that some Hufflepuffs already do and until Voldemort finally shows himself or they somehow prove that he is back, it would remain that way.

'We've managed to convince a couple of people, though,' said Mr. Weasley. 'Tonks here, for one — she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage — Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet.'

'But if none of you's putting the news out that Voldemort's back —' Harry began.

'Who said none of us was putting the news out?' said Sirius. 'Why'd You think Dumbledore's in such trouble?'

'Enlighten me.' Harry replied dryly.

'They're trying to discredit him,' said Lupin. 'Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too.'

'But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards,' said Bill, grinning. Harry rolled his eyes again and said,

'Of course, he did.' _At least he's doing something right._ He thought to himself.

'It's no laughing matter,' said Mr. Weasley shortly. 'If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while. If Dumbledore's out of the way — well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field.'

'We don't want that, and I know from experience that he's clever, very clever and he could do whatever he wants stealthily without us even knowing what is going on.' Sirius said tiredly.

'Severus has been doing what he can, Sirius.' Mr. Weasley said reassuringly, making Harry groan.

'That greasy git is here?' Sirius snorted in hysterical laughter and even the most composed members of the Order had to cough to hide their chuckles. Harry, in his opinion, was tired of Snape being in Hogwarts, and now he had to bear him here too?_ I just can't seem to catch a break..._

'That's enough.' Mrs. Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. Harry shrugged, nodding at Remus, signaling that he had fulfilled his promise.

Molly's arms were crossed and she looked furious. 'I want you in bed, now.'

'Well, glad you're doing something. And Tonks, is the offer still open?' She raised an eyebrow at him as if asking, 'what do you think?'

'That's a yes, can we cuddle?' She rolled her eyes in exasperation and muttered 'teenagers' under her breath.

-x-x-x-x-

That night, Harry sat upon his bed, hearing the noises die down and only the muttering of the House Elf, Kreacher could be heard.

Quite the polite one that was.

Molly had thrown a fit when he said that he wasn't going to room with Ron. When her voice was rising more and more, almost as if she had ownership of this house, was when Mrs. Black interrupted.

The old lady had screamed and screamed until Molly finally agreed to let Harry have his own room.

Their faces were quite amusing indeed.

Kreacher seemingly decided that Harry had earned his respect and so Harry is the only one in the house who he doesn't curse out. The look on Sirius' face when Kreacher called Harry 'Nice Half-Blood Master' was hilarious! Though Hermione looked like she was about to throttle him.

If it annoyed Hermione, you can be damn sure that he's going to do it.

So Harry was currently sitting on his bed, thinking about the trial and how he could use it to his advantage. It wasn't every day that you get a meeting with the Minister, the entire Wizengamot and the Director of DMLE at the same time.

Harry had absolutely no delusions about the trial, he knew he could somehow talk his way out of the situation, demand Veritaserum or make an Oath, somehow he could get out free even if Lord Whiskers left him to himself.

Again.

So, he was thinking of ways to get some other things, but first, he needed to know things. Things about the Wizarding World, to be exact. He was almost ashamed to say he knew next to nothing about Wizarding Customs and tradition. His Father was a Pureblood and was quite the charmer in his day, but that was not important right now, apparently, James Potter was quite the clever and cunning politician, or at least that's what Sirius said when he was trying to reassure Harry that he could somehow talk his way out of the trial.

Harry liked to think he was quite clever himself, not in the way of natural genii like his mother or Hermione, but more in a 'clever', more effective and practical sort of genius. He could also smooth talk his way out of hot waters, his time with the Dursley's made sure that he was a very proficient liar.

Well, to everyone except Remus anyway, the man could apparently 'smell' his lies.

Anyway, he was wondering what ways he could turn the situation where Fudge was trying to get him out of the way to his own advantage and get a few things right.

Number 1: Find some way to blackmail Fudge and get Sirius a trial so that he'd never have to go back to the Dursley's ever again.

Number 2: Clear himself of any charges by himself and not by Dumbledore's help.

Number 3: Befriend Amelia Bones, as she is a fair woman and very hard-working and pretty much incorruptible.

Plus, if she's anything like Susan, she must be _hot. _

Number 4: Try and announce Voldemort is back.

The last one might be a bit tricky. He knew that Fudge was in Lucius Malfoy's pocket and daddy Malfoy clearly did not want his master's return to become public, on his own or by Voldermort's orders, he did not know.

But either way, it was clever, loathe as he was to admit it, with the Minister being under Lucius' pocket and Lucius kissing Voldy arse, Riddle pretty much had the entire Ministry under his control, as the Minister was the ultimate power, so that left Voldy a huge advantage so he could reveal his return at his own convenience, preferably when he was back at his full powers with his army of boot-lickers on his side.

So, Number 5: Get Fudge out.

There is also the part about Voldemort, he needed to find out how Voldemort survived. It was most likely Dark Magic, so he can theorize nothing, considering he has no knowledge of Dark Magic.

So, Number 6: Find the source of Voldemort's survival and destroy it.

After that, well, if necessary,

Number 7: Defeat Voldemort.

Well, he can leave that part to Dumbledore or any other proficient dueller or any other powerful wizard or witch. Hell, he could just buy a gun and shoot the snake face, it would be that easy. Actually, he could do it even now. He saw that Voldemort revived himself using Harry's blood, so while the source of his survival was still intact, he cannot truly die.

Killing Voldemort or even just defeating him was truly not possible for him, he was just a kid and as much as he hated being treated like one, he knew it was true. So they need to weaken him, and the main part of his power is his Death Eaters, that one is left to the Order.

If they do anything that is.

The reason Voldemort can touch him was due to his blood that contained his mother's magic protection, so Noseless needed his blood to use in the ritual to revive himself should he die, and he wouldn't dare get nearby Harry if Harry could turn him into ash just by touching him.

He never plans to do that, ever.

Plus, he doesn't plan on giving any to random people anytime soon, so even if they can't truly kill Voldemort, they could still kill his physical form, and he'd once again be a wraith and the Death Eaters in shambles. It would be easy pickings for the Aurors.

So, Number 4 first before Number 6 and 7, since Aurors were needed to hunt Death Eaters. If Dumbledore was in charge, then Harry was sure that the Death Eaters would just escape only a few months later with bribery or just plain bust out.

So with the plan in mind, Harry picked up his invisibility cloak and quietly opened the door. With stealth that he'd managed to pick up when he was left to starve in the cupboard, he tiptoed to Sirius' room. He opened the door and found his godfather sitting on his bed, staring at a photograph that was in his hands.

'Remembering your youth, old man?' Harry said with a grin. Sirius jumped when he heard the disembodied voice, he looked around only to realize that Harry had James' cloak on and was probably at the door.

'Shut it, brat.' He said good-naturedly and set the photograph on the end table. Sirius looked at him as Harry took off his cloak, folded it and put it in his pocket. He looked around the room and raised an eyebrow.

The room was covered in Gryffindor red and gold, something that made his family ecstatic Harry was sure, and was covered with pictures of Quidditch teams and naked women. There was a picture of a bikini-clad Angelina Jolie who winked and swayed her hips. Harry smirked.

'This room just screams a man with a thirst unquenchable.' Harry said. Sirius smirked.

'Like the posters?' Harry nodded, never taking his eyes off the poster of the scantily clad actress.

'Oh, hell yeah.' Sirius barked out a laugh.

'Annoyed the living shit out of my dear old mum and I'm kind of surprised that it is the same as it was when I left.' Harry noted the bitter tone of his godfather.

'Don't like this place much, do you?'

'I like this place as much as you like your Aunt's house, of that I'm sure.' Sirius said bitterly. Harry sighed and sat down at the end of his godfather's bed.

'Judging by the happiness your mother displayed when she saw you, I can guess what the relationship was like.' Harry said pulling one knee up and resting his foot on the bed, he wasn't wearing any shoes.

'She was _thrilled_, I don't know what you're talking about.' Harry chuckled at Sirius' wry grin. Sirius smiled before he asked, 'So, what's up? Couldn't sleep?' Harry nodded.

'Kind of, but I also wanted to discuss a few things, if you don't mind.' Sirius shrugged.

'Eh, I can't sleep either, come on, let's go discuss whatever you want in the kitchen when Missus Weasley isn't hogging it, I'm guessing this is important?' Sirius asked his godson, who smirked.

'I have a plan and if everything goes according to it, we'll be celebrating Christmas in the Bahamas with Champagne.' Harry said confidently. Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned around, 'and a few women too if you want. I know I do with the shit I've been dealing with all my life.' Sirius just stared.

'I could be free?'

'As a bird. Or a dog, I suppose.' Harry said cheekily. Sirius chuckled and shook his head fondly.

'Well then, it's a conversation for the Library?' Harry tilted his head.

'Library?'

'It's enchanted so that only Black family members can get in. Since your my godson, and a Black by your grandmother, you can get in, but no one will be able to get in or out. They won't be able to hear anything either.' Harry froze.

'My grandmother was a member of the Black family?' Sirius nodded, realizing that Harry did not have any face or name to put to his grandparents.

'Yep, Dorea Black or I suppose it's Dorea Potter, she married your grandfather Charlus Potter. So I suppose you and I are distant cousins and so are you can little Nymmy, it's like a fifth cousin or something.' He waved it off. Harry was more than a little relieved to hear that he and Tonks were only distantly related, considering that he was flirting and practically daring her to come on to him.

It almost killed all the sex appeal the woman had in his eyes.

Almost.

Dorea Potter and Charlus Potter, finally he had a name to add to the two faces he saw behind his parents in the Mirror of the Erised in his First Year.

'They sound like great people.' Harry said as they walked together towards the Library that was on the other side of the house. Sirius nodded solemnly.

'They were, they let me stay with them after I ran away from here when I was sixteen.' Harry wasn't surprised that Sirius ran away, considering the condition and atmosphere of the house, he'd probably run away too. Sirius smiled wryly.

'I think you can guess why I ran away.' Harry shrugged.

'I wouldn't want to stay here either, no offense.' He replied.

'None taken. I'd probably say worse.' They didn't say anything until they reached the Library, Sirius put his hand on the door and it opened. Sirius stepped in and the door shut before Harry could step in.

Harry put his hand on the door much like Sirius and the door opened once again. He stepped in and looked around the library.

_Those are a large number of dark books. _Harry thought idly, staring at a completely black bookcase with snake designs running along the sides. There were several tomes whose spines displayed a large number of Dark Tomes written in different languages. Harry looked at one book.

_The Art of Persuasion,_ by Orion Black.

_The Grey in Black and White, _by Nigellus Black.

'Oh yeah, this is the Black family library alright.' Harry said dryly, nodding his head.

'Not all the books are horrible, some of them just give out a sense of... wrongness, just do me a favor and don't touch them.' Sirius said, pulling out his wand and summoned a table and two chairs and a bottle of Firewhiskey. Harry looked around a bit more, the place was dirty, but not as much as the rest of the house. Probably because no one other than members of the Black Family can get in, plus the fact that the books were probably charmed to self-cleaning.

He needed to learn that charm.

'Sit down, kid. Want some?' Sirius offered Harry a glass half-filled with Firewhiskey. Harry raised an eyebrow.

'Don't let Missus Weasley catch you giving this stuff to me.' Harry took the glass, staring down at the liquid. It had an odd smell that seemed to turn his brain into mush.

'Bah! This is _my_ house, that tart just doesn't get it! Who cares? Go on, kiddo. Tell me about your plan.' Sirius downed an entire glass before putting it on the table, Harry hesitated slightly, wondering how it tastes like.

_Ah, sod it. _He thought and down the glass and immediately coughed as the burning sensation traveled down his throat. Harry sputtered and stared at Sirius who looked like he was about to fall off his chair from laughing.

'Not cool, you mangy mutt.' Harry muttered as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his slightly large hoodie.

Sirius wiped a tear as he calmed down, 'Heh, it's alright, kid. I was the same when I took my first swig, don't worry. Here, have another.' Sirius poured another half-glass, and Harry hesitantly reached for it, but Sirius pulled back at the last moment. Harry blinked.

'This is the last.' Harry gaped at him. Sirius looked offended.

'Hey, even I can be responsible sometimes.' He gave the glass to Harry.

Harry downed it quickly, and there was a burning sensation in his throat that traveled down. It was pleasant, but onto business.

'Well, anyway, as I said, I have a plan, and I need your help.' Sirius nodded firmly.

'Of course, kid. Anything.'

'Well, first I need to know, does my name mean anything from a political viewpoint?' Harry asked him. Sirius looked a bit surprised.

'Yeah, it does. A lot more than any Potter before actually, considering you are the Boy-Who-Lived, Heir to House Potter, as well as my chosen heir.' Sirius said proudly. Harry looked at him, shocked and Sirius grinned at him.

'Don't look so surprised, Harry. You're like my son and I'd leave my son everything I have.' Harry swallowed thickly and looked down so that Sirius wouldn't see the tears. Nobody has ever said that to him, not that he could remember anyway. To hear Sirius say that meant a lot.

Dammit, that started pretty bad but in a good way. Sirius smiled at his son and patted him on the shoulder.

'Well, go on, I'm sure we can discuss all the sappy things later on.' Sirius said with a fond look in his eyes.

'R-right.' Harry cursed his voice for cracking. He wiped away his eyes before any tears could fall.

'Take a moment, if you want.' Sirius offered. Harry shook his head.

'Nah, I'm good. So, uh, the plan?'

'The plan.' Sirius nodded.

'Right, so the first part of the plan was to play on Fudge's political side.' Harry said gaining his voice back from the emotional moment. Sirius raised an elegant eyebrow and Harry imagined that's what Mrs. Black's eyebrow would have looked like if she didn't look like she was about to commit a crime on sanity.

'Fudge is a clever politician, but how do you plan on doing it? First, why would he even listen to you, you're a nutter remember?' Sirius said with a cheeky grin and chuckled when his godson glared at him. Harry rolled his eyes.

'That's where my political standing comes in, he might refuse a meeting with Harry Potter, the one who saw Lord Snake Eyes return, but there's no way he'd refuse a meeting with Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Heir to House Black and House Potter.'

'Actually, you can probably become Lord Potter now, you know, get emancipated?' Sirius suggested. Harry looked at his godfather in confusion.

'That'd be great, but I'm still underage.' Sirius nodded.

'True, but there is a loophole to that. You see if there is no living person sharing your blood, you can set up a Reagent for your House to stand in the place of Lord. As the only living heir of House Potter, you can dismiss that person and take up your Lordship. That gives you a vote in Wizengamot, the Wizarding Court and the other powers of being a Lord.' Sirius explained.

Harry nodded, 'I see, and when was Albus Dumbledore planning on telling me this part?' Sirius grunted.

'I think he might have 'forgotten' to tell you probably because he was standing in your place as a Reagent. And I think that bitch Narcissa has the vote for Black Family considering she's the only heir alongside me. Since her husband is Lucy Malfoy, he probably has my seat.' Sirius said with a growl and Harry's eyes narrowed.

'So, he wants his son to get the Black Lordship.' Harry concluded. Sirius growled again.

'There is no way I'd let that brat get anywhere near the Black Lordship, imagine the power Voldemort would get from that.' Harry realized that look of horror on Sirius' face and sat straighter in alarm.

'Sirius?'

'Good lord, there is... there is another heir. Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa's older sister, if she gets the seat.' He shivered, 'I wouldn't be surprised if Bella breaks out of Azkaban to join her master's side, she was always the most fanatical of all of them. Even my own mother was saner than her.' Harry wondered what negative levels of sanity he should expect from Bellatrix Lestrange.

'Anyway, Fudge wouldn't dare refute an audience with Lord Potter and Heir of Black, so he'd have to agree. After that... well, I'll blackmail him.' Sirius choked.

'Come again?'

'I'll blackmail him into giving you a trial, he's practically going to be begging me not to tell a few of his... deeds in the public.' Harry said with a savage grin. Sirius shivered at the look, it was the same look James always had when thought someone was going to hurt his beloved wife.

'So, uh, what are those 'deeds'?'

'Quite a few things. In the Second Year, he got Hagrid arrested because he has to be seen doing something, now, as far as I know, Hagrid never got his compensation for staying in Azkaban.' Sirius nodded, that would be bad for Fudge, but it was easily fixable.

'Third Year, mass-murderer and Death Eater Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban.' Harry said dramatically, and Sirius snorted, 'What does our beloved Minister Fudge do? Does he send Aurors? Does he send trained officials that can make sure that he doesn't hurt his target, that target being yours truly? Nope, he sends Dementors. Soul sucking creatures from that hell-hole that had an unnatural fixation with me.' Harry drawled.

'I always wondered how that didn't go public and Fudge wasn't giving a good kick in the dick for sending Dementors to Azkaban. Apparently, several students in that year sent letters to their parents, several of them being from Pureblood families like Daphne Greengrass, Susan Bones, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ernie Macmillan, and even Theodore Nott, but there was no action from the Ministry.'

'You know, I nearly died three times that year, a record really. All of them from Dementors and one by Moony, that one doesn't obviously count, but not once did Fudge remove the Dementors. Now what would happen if the rest of the Pureblood families learn that not only Fudge let Dementors into a school filled with children, but also snubbed several prominent Pureblood families like Greengrass, Bones, Weasley, Longbottom, Macmillan, Nott and allowing the near-death of the heir to not only Potter family but also Black family?' Sirius looked gobsmacked at that. He looked at his godson in a new light, that was freaking clever and that is just what he had in two years.

'Now, the Ministry owns the Daily Prophet and Fudge must have allowed what was printed in it so he allowed the slander of the Heir of House Potter and House Black.' Sirius nodded, that was once again, fixable, 'he continues to do it even now, so I can get it stopped and any action that is considered harmful to my person is punishable, I know that part.' That was a pretty good way for the Prophet to stop demeaning him.

'Now, here's the fun part, and doing this would not only get you a trial but would also give us the Minister as an ally... not that we couldn't blackmail him to practically lick our boots, but in this way, he might even think about giving my claim about Voldy some thought.' Sirius tilted his head.

'So what do you plan to do?'

'I looked into the year of Fudge's inauguration as the Minister and saw that it was after you were thrown into Azkaban without a trial. The man in charge back then was Barty Crouch Senior.' Harry said and saw the realization dawning in Sirius' eyes.

'You basically want to play the Politician in Fudge's mind. He can be seen as the one who righted the wrongs of his predecessor.' Harry grinned brightly and Sirius gave his own devious grin. The plan was bloody brilliant!

'Blackmail plus greed equals a Minister who is practically a bootlicker to yours truly.' Harry said, standing up and giving a bow. Sirius laughed and tackled his godson into a hug. Harry laughed as he wrapped his arms around his godfather.

'Holy shit, kid! That's a fucking brilliant plan! Holy shit!' Harry grinned.

'Of course. No offense, but playing a good little Gryffindor golden boy was not getting things done. I need to be a bit more Slytherin about this.' Sirius nodded.

'True, true. Good thinking, Harry. Let's hope that everything would go as smooth as possible in this plan of yours.' Harry smirked.

'There are a few small holes in the plan but meeting Amelia Bones beforehand should give me something more to work with. Hell, even without any of this, I could still walk about a free man and still just ask Amelia Bones to look into Sirius Black's trial. She'll find something out and send it to the Minister, especially if I drop a few, let's say, 'hints' that Lucius Malfoy would prefer you to be in bars so that his son could get Black Family seat, Fudge's political maniac side should play itself out.' Harry explained.

That sounded hellova lot more awesome than when he thought of it in his mind.

'You know, 'holy shit' doesn't seem enough anymore. You sly son of a gun, you're a fucking genius.' Harry gasped dramatically.

'You kiss your mother with that mouth?' They both laughed.

Oh, yeah, the plan is in commission.

_-x-x-x-x-_

_I'm sorry it took so long to update. _

_Please Review._

_Peace._


	3. Chapter 3

"Are we going to Diagon Alley anytime soon?" Harry asked Mrs. Weasley at the dinner next night after his plan to destroy the Ministry.

Harry and Sirius had spent the rest of the night coming up with other points to keep Fudge as their puppet minister and going over Sirius' trial situation. Tonks had been a huge help, as she was an Auror and worked directly under the Director of DMLE Amelia Bones. She was fair and would be willing to listen to what he had to say.

If he could convince Amelia to look into the matter of Sirius Black then eventually she'd find that there was no trial, which is against the very rules the Ministry of Magic is based on. It's a huge crime.

But Lord business comes first as it was only a few days until the trial.

Mrs. Weasley frowned, looking over at Harry, "No, Harry. There is still time until the trial and we planned on going together after that." _If you walk away free. _The last part was left unsaid. Why last year he had his books before two weeks before the start of the term, but now it was less than that and he knew that Mrs. Weasley didn't want to offend him by going to buy for her kids without him.

Swell of her.

"I have other business in the Alley. It's important." Harry said simply. Molly looked confused.

"Oh? What business is that?" Harry hesitated, he didn't want to offend her, but House matters demand privacy. Besides, he'd never asked anything private from her family before, and he could only hope that she'd return the favor.

"Potter Family business," Harry replied. Molly's eyes widened before they narrowed in disapproval.

"Harry, dear, I see no need to involve yourself in politics at such a young age." She said in a disapproving and Harry felt a silver of irritation. Who was she? His mother?

"I have to Mrs. Weasley, if I take up the responsibility as the Head of the Potter Family then I'd be able to arrange for a solicitor for my trial," Harry said, his voice carefully blank, trying not to show his irritation with the woman. That was all he was going to say, she didn't need to know that he was also planning to obliterate the Ministry and make the Minister a puppet.

It's been this way since the past few days since he's arrived, she's always been making comments about how he, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins were _children _and that they should stay away from adult matters. It had gotten to the point where she'd actually argued with Fred and George, berating them of how they were the biggest children of them all considering that they want to start a 'joke shop'.

The twins made it a point to ignore Molly from the moment.

"You just have to trust in Dumbledore, Harry. I'm sure he'll get you out of this situation." Harry felt his temper spike. She was insinuating that he could not get out of this situation by himself and had to rely on Dumbledore like a good little pet lion.

Bugger that, he wasn't going to trust Dumbledore after the man had left him to his own every time something smelly happens.

"If he has, he hasn't taken any initiative to inform me. Voldemort, fine, he can deal with that, but this is _my _trial, I think I should at least know what he planned to do. Or if he has any plan." Harry said, unable to keep the irritation from his voice.

Molly huffed, "I wouldn't worry too much dear, children shouldn't involve themselves in politics." Harry sighed in annoyance. He vaguely noted that he had the attention of all the Weasleys as well as Hermione, Sirius, and Remus.

"It's my birthright, Mrs. Weasley. I was actually hoping Remus would accompany me to Gringotts so I can take up my Lordship." The table quieted and looked at Hary with wide eyes. Remus shrugged.

"Of course Prongslet." Harry smiled at the nickname, and while he was annoyed that it contained a -_let_ in the spelling, it made him feel closer to his dad.

"No, Remus. You will do no such thing, the Headmaster's orders were clear, Harry is not allowed to leave the house." Molly said firmly as if expecting them to bow to her will, and Harry nearly scoffed.

"Why? Does he expect Death Eaters to attack out of nowhere?" Molly looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Of course, why else would he keep you inside?" She said as if the answer was obvious.

_Who the hell knows? That's what I hate. _Harry thought angrily. He didn't know what the Headmaster planned to achieve by keeping him in this dark place. Voldemort's laying low while gathering followers, it wouldn't do good to destroy the secrecy he has maintained so far by attacking him publicly.

Besides, Death Eater attack on Harry Potter after he announces to the world that He-Who-Was-Stupid-Enough-To-Forget-A-Nose has returned? Why? Fudge can sweep it as a coincidence, but people would still get suspicious.

Harry shrugged, "Voldy's been behind the scenes so far and he won't jump the gun this quickly and ruin everything. Besides, that's why I asked Remus to come with me." Remus piped up quickly.

"We do have a portkey to directly lead us here, and I can apparate." Remus supplied, helpfully. Molly glared at him.

"Yes, no one is doubting you, Remus," She waved him off, "but it still does not change the fact that Harry is still just a child and should not get involved in politics. What does he know about it?" Her voice was getting higher.

"I can teach him," Sirius said with a shrug.

"It was you who put you up to this, aren't you?" Molly accused Sirius who simply raised a sleek eyebrow.

"The idea was his. I just told him about the loophole, I didn't force him to do anything." He said smoothly. Subtly hinting that Molly had forced every person below eighteen to clean this house, uncaring of how large it was.

"And besides, I wasn't asking, I was telling," Harry said indifferently and inclined his head with a polite smile. Molly just gaped at him, as did several Weasley children.

Fred and George were smirking and quickly wished him luck as he left, and were awarded a smirk of his own.

Remus stood up from the chair, an amused smile on his face, "Well, thank you for the lunch, Molly, but it would seem that Harry wants me to go with him." Remus said with an identically polite smile on his face.

After he was out of hearing range, he chuckled. He turned to the young man who was leaning against the wall and grinned.

"You've wanted to do that for a while didn't you?" Remus said amusedly. Harry only gave him a look of pure innocence.

"Why Moony, I have no idea what you're talking about," Harry said with a sly grin. Remus shook his head fondly.

"Alright then, you say you want to go to Gringotts?" Remus enquired motioning Harry to follow him, which he did and they walked towards the room with the Floo. Harry turned to the werewolf.

"Didn't Dumbledore close off all the Floo's? I remember Mrs. Weasley casually mentioning that the other day." He enquired. Remus frowned before shaking his head in the negative and said,

"This house belongs to Sirius, only he can open and close the Floo Network in this house." Remus said with a smirk, "Molly probably wanted to discourage anyone who wanted to get out of the house." _Especially you. _Harry didn't need to hear the last words out loud.

Remus took a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the fire.

"Diagon Alley." The fire turned green and Remus inclined his head for Harry to take the first turn. Putting on a simple baseball cap that Tonks had gotten for him to hide his scar and the hair that was as messy as always. Remus watched with amusement as Harry struggled to get all of the messy hair into the cap. With a grunt, he managed to get all of the hair into the cap.

"If I didn't look better with longer hair, I'd cut it already," Harry said with a grunt. Remus chuckled and waved his hand in front of him for Harry to go first.

Harry did go first and fell face-first onto the ground. He stood up rubbing his nose and blushed when he saw that most people were eying him in amusement. Thankfully, no one seemed to have recognized him. Beside him, Remus appeared gracefully on his feet and gave Harry a smug smile.

"...Arse." Remus seemed to take a large amount of amusement in this and led Harry forward by the shoulder.

"You have to admit it's a bit funny," Remus said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, rib-splitting, I'm sure." Harry deadpanned.

"You'll get used to it, kid," Remus replied after another bout of amusement.

"I'll stick to brooms, thanks," Harry said dryly.

They walked in silence until they reached Gringotts, once they reached the door, Remus turned to Harry and asked, "So, do you plan on telling me what we're doing here?" Harry looked at him and nodded.

"I plan on using a few loopholes and become an adult," Harry said simply. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"It's that simple?"

"Well, I suppose both of us could use some clothes," Harry said, looking over at Remus' clothes. They were better than the ones he usually wears, but they were still shabby. His own clothes were shit, and he had no intention of wearing those wizards robes. Those things were just dreadful.

Remus shook his head, "Harry, you can't just buy me clothes. I won't accept it." Harry rolled his eyes.

"I'm buying you clothes, deal with it," Harry replied stubbornly. Remus was stubborn, but Harry was even more so. They both stared each other down, neither refusing to give an inch, but eventually, Remus sighed, realizing that arguing with a stubborn Harry Potter was just impossible.

"...You are just as stubborn as your mum and dad." Remus muttered. Harry chuckled.

"Thanks, I guess," Harry replied with a grin and opened the door for Gringotts.

They both walked into the bank, with several Goblins at the tables between the door and the Head Table looking at them curiously and some with sneers on their faces. Harry supposed he wasn't exactly well dressed for something as formal as the emancipation of a Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House.

Actually, he was dressed very informally, a simple grey hoodie with the sleeves pulled up to the forearm, blue jeans, a simple nearly broken watch, and black shoes. But that didn't mean they have to look at him and Remus like they had the plague.

They reached the end table and he cleared his throat to get the attention of the Head Goblin. Sirius had drilled into him that he _had _to be polite to the Goblins, but if he displays the characteristics of cunning and willing to get back at anyone to wronged them.

He was going to get along famously with them.

"Hello, sir, I am Harry James Potter and I would like to talk to the Potter Family Account Manager," Harry said politely. The Goblin looked up and narrowed his eyes.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. Griphook will take you to Sharptooth, the Account Manager for the Potter Family." He said formally and in a bored tone. Harry nodded.

"Thank you, sir." He inclined his head at the Goblin as another, more familiar Goblin arrived at the scene.

"Follow me." He said without preamble and they both nodded. As they got out of earshot of the first Head Goblin.

"Good to see you again, Griphook." The Goblin looked over at him in surprise.

"You remember me?"

"Yes, you were the one who took me to my Trust Vault when I first arrived in Gringotts." Griphook looked shocked and Harry frowned, wondering if he had done something to offend the Goblin. Quite of a lot of his plan rests in getting his Lordship and emancipation, and if he was on bad terms with the Goblins...

"I apologize if I have offended you," Harry said awkwardly. Griphook shook his head.

"No, no, I was just surprised that someone had actually bothered to remember us by appearance. Most wizards just don't bother." Harry grinned.

"I like to defy the stereotype." The Goblin grinned savagely.

"We need more wizards like you, Mr. Potter. Now, please follow me, we do not want to keep Sharptooth waiting." Griphook said, but neither Harry or Remus needed to hear anymore the say that the Goblins were impressed.

They reached the door decorated with the traditional Goblin style, and Griphook knocked twice. Hearing a knockback, he opened the door and stepped in, motioning for the two wizards behind him to do the same.

The room wasn't that large, but it was elegant. There were several artifacts and weaponry on the walls. The room reeked of magic, Harry could practically feel it, but it had a different feel to it than Grimmauld Place. Whereas Number Twelve gave off a sense of darkness, this one seemed to give off a feral feel, it was powerful but not suffocating.

At the end of the room, there was a simple desk and a chair behind him, with the desk having a Potter Family Crest on the front of the desk. The motto, 'Fortune Favors the Bold' was written in the twig-like form that he preferred to write in.

"Thank you, Griphook. You may leave." The Goblin at the chair said to Griphook, who bowed. He nodded at the two wizards, who nodded back. Sharptooth, as Harry learned the name of the Goblin to be, motioned them over the chairs that he conjured right in front of their eyes.

Harry sat down, managing to hide his surprise at the conjuration. He knew that Goblin magic was very impressive but this level is simply incredible.

"Heir Potter, Mr. Lupin. How may I assist you today?" Sharptooth asked them, unlike the Head Goblin, this tone was formal and business-like, not a hint of boredom present in his tone or appearance.

Harry cleared his throat awkwardly, "Sharptooth sir, I would like to view my holdings and other properties, if I may." Harry replied formally. He wanted to see just how much he had, as Sirius had theorized that he was the Heir to at least another House. The Goblin nodded,

"Very well." He waved his hand at the Parchment and grabbed it, he muttered something and the parchment began to glow a dim blue for a few seconds. Harry watched as the light vanished and floated over to him.

Taking it gingerly, he unfurled it and looked it over,

_**Vault-687: Lord James Edward Potter**_

_**3,506,675 Galleons**_

_**1,624,001 Sickles**_

_**50,475 Knuts**_

_**Among Various Artefacts**_

_**Vault-394: Lord James Edward Potter-Peverell**_

_**765,015 Galleons**_

_**1,000,231 Sickles**_

_**12,001 Knuts**_

_**Among Various Artefacts**_

_**Vault-108: Lord James Edward Potter-Gryffindor**_

_**521,005 Galleons**_

_**2,365 Sickles**_

_**123 Knuts**_

_**Among Various Artefacts**_

_**Vault**__**-109: Harry James Potter**_

_**12,009 Galleons**_

_**1,035 Sickles**_

_**2 Knuts**_

_**Among Various Artefacts**_

Harry could only gape at the amount of money he had. He _tried _to do some calculations in his head, taking the value of a single galleon into British Pounds but had to stop before he got a brain stroke. It was simply an outrageous number.

Remus Lupin looked at the register with shock. He had always known that James was a very rich person, considering that his father was playing politics for fun which must have been costly. Unlike the other families, the Potters had never indulged themselves in extreme luxuries like the Malfoys and the Blacks. They were content with what they had but then again what they had could make most people feel like peasants.

James had always mentioned he was rich, but never actually mentioned a number. Now, knowing how much of a target James would become to his already mental fan club, it makes sense.

"...Holy shit." Was Harry's only words.

"A severe understatement..." Remus muttered.

Sharptooth looked at the two wizards in amusement, "...Shall I give you a moment?"

Harry shook his head with a gulp, "...I-I want to know why it says Gryffindor and Slytherin." Harry asked nervously. Give him a break, he had just learned that he was a stinking rich wizard, it takes time for the news to sink in.

Sharptooth nodded, "Of course, the line of Godric Gryffindor converged with the House of the Peverells in the fifteen hundreds which itself converged with the House of Potter after the last daughter carrying the name of Peverell, Isabella Peverell eloped with Alexander Potter. This makes you, Harry James Potter, son of James Edward Potter, grandson of Charlus Antioch Potter the sole heir to the lost line of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell." Harry felt goosebumps down his spine at the way the Goblin said it.

"And Slytherin?"

"The magic has identified you as the Heir of Slytherin by the Right of Conquest. I do not know how, but you must have." Harry stiffened at the words 'Heir of Slytherin', but relaxed quickly, it seemed that he wasn't the Heir by Blood but rather because he defeated the last Heir of Slytherin in combat.

He's done that thrice if you count Quirrellmort and Tom Riddle's shade along with the survival of the killing curse when he was a toddler.

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself down and asked the million galleon question, "Is there a way to claim the Lordship now?"

Sharptooth looked taken aback, waving his hand, a parchment appeared in his hand. Looking over the sheet Sharptooth frowned, "According to the wishes of Lord James Potter and Lady Lily Potter, they wished for Lord Sirius Black or Mister Remus Lupin to stand as Regents for the House of Potter, but it seems these wishes were overturned by Albus Dumbledore who currently stands in the place of Lord Potter and Lord Peverell, as Slytherin and Gryffindor do not have a vote in Wizengamot." The Goblin growled out.

Harry's eyebrow twitch and the urge to growl became prominent. Remus growled ferally at the disrespect being shown by two of the greatest people he has ever known. He looked at Harry sharply when he felt magic whirling in the room.

"Harry calm down," Remus commanded. Harry growled.

"That whiskered piece of shit..." Harry looked at Sharptooth and the Goblin resisted the urge to take a step back at the look of rage in the green eyes on the calm and slightly nervous wizard of fifteen.

It was the look of a predator.

"Can I claim the Lordship now?" Harry asked Sharptooth, forcing himself to be polite while mentally thinking of over a thousand ways he could make Dumbles whimper in pain through the use of various hexes and curses.

"While I can understand your anger, Mister Potter, you are still underage and are not considered an adult in the eyes of the Wizengamot and the Ministry itself," Sharptooh replied. Harry froze.

_Last I checked, you cannot force a trial for an underage wizard, and the way Fudge is trying to expel me... So does that mean that the Wizengamot sees me as an adult? I mean, I did participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament designed for adults... _His eyes widened and he grinned deviously.

"Would the words of the Wizengamot itself suffice?" Harry asked innocently and both Remus and Sharptooth narrowed their eyes at the young man.

"Do explain," Sharptooth replied dryly, Remus nodded in agreement.

"Of course, you see Sharptooth sir, a few days ago the Wizengamot sent me a letter claiming that I had violated the Statute of Secrecy and therefore I was being tried in front of the entire Wizengamot..." He drawled.

Harry looked at Sharptooth and gave a bright grin, "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the only people who can be tried in front of the Wizengamot are adult wizards." Remus' eyes nearly hit his hairline.

"So basically, you're twisting their own laws against them." Harry looked a bit smug.

"There's more." Sharptooth raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Before the summer this year, I was forced to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a tournament designed specifically for adults and even after pointing out the said fact, they ignored me and forced me to go through with it anyway." Harry leaned forward.

"Now, doesn't that mean that the Goblet of Fire considered me an adult and the Minister himself considered me an adult when he refused to let me out of the tournament." Sharptooth looked at the young man in amusement.

"In your own words, Mister Potter, 'holy shit'." Harry grinned and cackled.

A sign of things to come.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Harry Potter contemplated the answer he wanted to give.

"...Like my insides are about to twist out." He replied blankly. Sirius smiled at his godson and clasped a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be alright kiddo, remember the plan," Sirius whispered the second part in his ear. Harry smirked hesitantly.

"Oh, trust me, I do." He replied.

Mrs. Weasley had grilled him for information about what he had been up to in Diagon Alley, he had quickly and firmly reminded her that it was Potter Family business and implied to her that it was none of her own.

This had, of course, not satisfied the woman and demanded him to tell her everything, including his assets and rings. Harry declined, politely once again, stating that it was Potter Family business and none of her own.

After that, later on in the day, she had told him to give him the keys of his Vaults for 'safe-keeping', and he once again declined. He had found a trunk that can only be opened by the ones containing the Peverell Blood, something which he had no choice but to tell her so that she doesn't demand his keys.

Of course, Sirius pointed out that it was the Potter Family business and none of her own.

The woman just doesn't understand.

"I still wish you would trust Albus with everything. Why are you leaving so early anyway? The trial still has nearly five hours." Molly said disapprovingly. Harry sighed in irritation. The woman just cannot take a hint.

"...I am going to meet Madam Bones, as Tonks said I should. I could plead my case to the Head of DMLE herself and maybe even end this farce of a trial before it even began." He answered, ignoring the first part of her words.

After claiming his Lordships, Harry had written a letter to the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones as he had planned to do. Tonks had informed him that she was fair and would hear out what he had to say. She had written back using a handsome black owl, that seemed severely intimidated by Hedwig, agreeing to his conditions.

Amelia Bones also agreed that this trial was an absolute farce designed to make Harry keep his mouth shut.

Molly huffed and opened her mouth to say something, and Harry resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall.

Goddamit, can't she just take a hint?!

"Albus would never let you get expelled, dear. There really is no need to leave the house, it's dangerous." Molly said with a hint of irritation before looking him over and remarked, "besides, you're definitely in need of a trim, and your clothes too, Harry." Harry found himself getting offended.

His clothes? What's wrong with his clothes? He wondered and asked her the same question.

"I don't get the need for those, why don't you wear some of the respectable clothes that Ronald wears? Or some of Bill's clothes?" She offered with a smile.

"These are respectable, they're the Muggle equivalent of formal robes." Harry was wearing an expensive Muggle suit with a red tie. It was certainly a hell of a lot better than the stupid dress robes he wore for the Yule Ball.

Molly frowned, "And the hair? I could give you a cut, dear. It will look a lot better." She said fingering her wand and Harry smiled politely, but his eyes flashed with extreme annoyance. It won't be long before she manages to push all of his buttons. Dammit, his hair was much better managed when it was longer, besides it's not like it was reaching his back or anything, it was just a little bit longer than his previous year and certainly not as long as Bill's hair is. **(*******The Cover Image)**

"I'm good, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said with a large, fake smile. She simply sighed in annoyance. Thankfully, he was saved from being grilled and nagged by the Weasely Matriarch when the person escorting him to the Head of DMLE appeared.

"Alright, Harry! Shall we go?" Tonks appeared with a cheerful and bright smile on her face. Harry grinned at her.

"Let's go, love." He offered his arm and she took it with a flirtatious grin. Molly scowled in annoyance while Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Alright, then, bye guys!" Tonks waved behind her brightly and apparated out of the house while holding onto Harry's arm. Harry felt like his insides were about to jump out of their place. When they appeared at the Auror Office where the Head of the DMLE works, Harry immediately removed his arm from her grasp and fell down, his face very green.

"...Oh, lord." Harry looked like he was about to vomit while Tonks laughed.

"You're as graceful as a bird on a broom and it's Apparition that knocks you down? Lame." She said, her laughs subsiding with an amused grin on her face. Harry glared at her while staggering to his feet.

"It's not my fault that Magical Transport is complete bollocks," Harry said with a groan. Tonks smiled.

"Should I be offended?" She asked, not really wording it like a question. Harry gave a slight smirk.

"You and I both know how good we both are with Floo, so no," Harry said wryly. Tonks smirked.

"True enough." Tonks motioned for him to follow her and he inclined his head for her to lead the way.

Harry trailed behind Tonks as she moved to the main door of the Office, she knocked twice and there was a man in his early twenties who looked at her with a wry glance, through the side counter, "Why hello Auror Tonks, how wonderful to see you again. Password?" The man said dryly and looked at Harry briefly. Harry detected the Scottish Accent but was unable to recognize the man.

"We know what we are, but not what we may be." She said quickly and Harry blinked at the Shakesphere Quotation, but Tonks continued on, "Hi, Auror Drake, I'm here to escort Lord Harry Potter to meet Director Bones. He has an appointment." The man only showed a brief amount of surprise. Harry found the man's gaze back on him and he helpfully moved his fringe to show the infamous lightning bolt scar on the side of his forehead.

"Well, good to see you still have your soul in you, come in." He said, his tone was bored. Harry gazed at him curiously.

"Haven't I seen you before?" The man raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.

"I was the Head Boy in your First Year, Samuel Drake, good to officially meet you, Lord Potter." The man said with a polite inclination of his head. Harry smiled politely at him.

"You too, sir."

"Sam is fine," Sam said.

"Counter duty, Sam?" Tonks interjected, her tone sympathetic. Sam scoffed.

"There is no way I'm standing behind this thing for long, I'm only covering until Auror Ass-kisser returns. And he's taking fucking forever." Sam growled. Tonks grimaced in sympathy while Harry said nothing, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

"How long has he been gone?" Sam looked at his watch.

"By now? Nearly an hour and I'm already about to die of boredom." He looked over at Harry.

"Ass-kisser is the name we have for Auror Dawlish, the nephew of Minister Fudge, a bigger fool I have yet to see." He said with a scowl and Harry furrowed his brow, not really understanding what he meant.

Seeing this, Sam continued, "He refuses to believe when most of the Auror force does."

Harry gained a surprised expression on his face, "You believe me?" Sam shrugged.

"You don't seem like the type of kid who'd lie. At least about something so crucial as You-Know-Who returning." He replied before pausing, "the same goes for my Mother too, you don't know this, but your mum and mine were pretty good friends back when they were in Hogwarts." Harry gave him a grin.

"So basically, we're friends already." He said cheekily and Sam chuckled.

"Alright, well, let me keep ya, go on." Tonks waved.

"Let's catch up later, Sam!" He nodded at her and Harry followed behind after a quick wave behind him.

When Harry caught up to Tonks, he looked at her with a coy grin, "So, who is he? Crush? Ex?" Tonks scoffed.

"Nope, he's more like a brother to me, we got into a lot of crap during the years of the Cursed Vaults." Harry was intrigued.

"He's the one who discovered the secrets of the Cursed Vaults?" Tonks nodded.

"Yep." She said popping the 'p'. Harry decided to ask Sam some questions later. It's not every day you come across someone who doesn't think you're a nutter and actually believe you while also happening to know about the Cursed Vaults.

"We're here." Harry saw the door that read, 'Madam Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement', Tonks opened the door and motioned for Harry to follow in.

The room wasn't very fancy, it was a simple room with walls painted a dim blue, there was slight magic in the atmosphere of the room, something which he had felt before, but couldn't quite place his finger on where. There was a chair at the end of the room in front of a large window.

He was greeted with the sight of a stern-faced, fiery red-haired witch with blue eyes, probably in her mid-thirties sitting behind a desk with her elbows on said desk and hands folded. She looked at Harry directly first and Harry felt as if she peered right into his soul.

She smirked slightly at his startled expression and greeted him politely,

"Lord Potter, good to see you." Harry bowed slightly as Sirius had told him to.

"You too, Lady Bones." Bones raised an eyebrow before turning over to the pink-haired Auror.

"Thank you, Auror Tonks." Tonks smiled and nodded before leaving through the door after giving Harry one last look. The door closed behind him and Harry stared at the witch for a few moments while she did the same.

Finally, she motioned for him to sit down on a chair opposite her on his side of the table.

"Thank you." He muttered loud enough for her to hear and sat down. It wasn't too comfy, obviously, she didn't want anyone to get too comfortable with her. Harry looked up into the blue eyes that narrowed once she saw the rings on Harry's hand.

"Lord Potter-Peverell?" Harry smiled, he felt like he could trust her just by hearing her voice.

"Yes, Gryffindor and Slytherin too, but I'd rather those two remain a secret for the time being," Harry replied and paused, "also, why am I telling you this?" He demanded and she smirked at him.

"The office is charmed with the Compulsion. You are naturally compelled to tell the truth." Bones explained. Harry blinked.

"Oh..."

There was an awkward silence between the two of them until Harry coughed.

"It will remain private, right?" Harry asked. Bones shrugged.

"It's none of my business should you decide not to tell the Wizengamot that you are the Lord to more than the two houses that hold a seat. The end result doesn't change anything." She answered and Harry let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

"Sooo... the hearing." Bones nodded at him and leaned forward on the desk. Harry caught a hint of her cleavage when she leaned over and quickly flicked his eyes to her face. If she noticed, she said nothing.

"Tell me, Lord Potter, do you know why the Minister is calling for a hearing for something as petty as Underage Magic?" She asked, but to Harry, it sounded more like a demand. Harry sighed.

"Do you want me to be honest, Madam Bones?" He asked simply. She raised an eyebrow and nodded firmly, quickly locking the door behind Harry, ensuring that no part of the conversation would go out of the room.

"I think it's because he's an idiot who wants to live ignorant and happy rather than aware and alert," Harry said bluntly and her eyes widened.

With a cough that sounded suspiciously like a snort, she said, "That is quite an opinion on a man that runs Magical Britain." She said in amusement. Harry shrugged.

"You wanted an honest opinion. He's an idiot who thinks that ignoring a problem long enough would make it go away." He paused as she seemed to agree with him. Tonks was right, Amelia Bones didn't think too highly of the Minister, "Tell me, do you know what the charges are?" Bones nodded quickly.

"Underage magic in front of a Muggle, The Patronus Charm, your second violation of Underage Magic. The first was in Summer 1992, before your Second Year, I presume?" Harry nodded, "Since it's the second violation, rules dictate that you need to be expelled from Hogwarts and your wand snapped. However, Albus Dumbledore interfered using what's left of his influence to call for a hearing. It's the best he could do." She paused, "Did you cast the Patronus Charm?" She asked flatly.

"Quite." He answered pleasantly.

"Why?" Harry smiled grimly.

"There were Dementors, ma'am. Dementors in Privet Drive, my cousin and I were attacked by them, it was either that or get my soul sucked out, not pleasant, you can understand." He said.

She narrowed her eyes once again, "Are you telling me that there were Dementors in Surrey? Specifically in the area where you live?" She asked skeptically. Harry smirked wryly.

"Imagine that." He said lightly, she looked him over, seemingly looking for any hint of deceit, Harry thought. Finally, she took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

'Very well, I would like to investigate your claims, if you don't mind." Harry grinned devilishly at her.

"Not at all, I'm all yours."

"Would you be willing to give a memory of the event?" Bones asked, ignoring his lame attempts of flirting with her. Harry looked at the object at the end of the room, one which he recognized from before, a Pensieve.

"I would, but I don't know how to. I've seen it done before but I've never done it myself." He replied. She grunted.

"That's alright, just think of the memory and use your wand and point it at your temple and pull it out." Bones explained as she beckoned him towards the Pensieve. Harry thought that it was pretty easy.

"Alright." Harry closed his eyes, thinking of the memory of him and his cousin being chased by Dementors and himself using the Patronus Charm to drive them away. He placed his hand at his temple and pulled out a light blue, thin strand. Harry placed the memory into the Pensieve as he remembered the Headmaster doing before.

Bones nodded at him and entered the memory quickly. Harry stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. After a few minutes, she reemerged, her face grim. She looked at Harry and nodded once again.

"I found no evidence of tampering, you were indeed attacked by a Dementor. That is quite disturbing." Bones said. Harry nodded.

"I heard from Tonks that you would hear me out, so I came to you. The Ministry is the only governing body capable of sending Dementors after people, so you can understand why I didn't approach them with my case." He explained. She looked angry,

"Quite right. Rest assured Lord Potter, your hearing will not last for more than the introductions." Bones said firmly and Harry felt a bit of weight lift off his shoulders and he stood up straighter.

Well, he knew he was going to get out free, but he still had more to discuss.

"Thank you, Madam Bones," Harry said gratefully and she smiled slightly at him, "However, that isn't all that I wanted to discuss." He continued. She waved a hand in a motion for him to go on.

"You see, Madam Bones, this matter happens to do with Sirius Black." Bones looked at him seriously, no pun intended.

"Do you happen to know where he is?" Harry shook his head, throwing off the Compulsion in the room quickly. The only reason he had blurted about Gryffindor and Slytherin was that he was caught off guard.

"No, but I have gathered from my Professor Minerva McGonagall that Sirius Black is my godfather." Her eyes widened in mild surprise before she frowned.

"That is hardly relevant, Lord Potter, regardless of your relation to him he is still a convicted Death Eater." Bones said in reply.

"Well, from what I heard, most of the trial files for everyone who has stood in front of Wizengamot were made public after they were tossed into Azkaban. So I asked Tonks to look for Sirius Black's trial." Her eyebrows rose.

"Was there something amiss in the trial?" She asked, her tone interested.

"There would be if there was a trial." Bones' eyes widened in shock.

"What?" She demanded.

"There was never a trial for Sirius Black. He was just tossed into Azkaban without one, and when we come forth with evidence of him being innocent in my Third Year, Minister Fudge blew us off. Apparently he takes the word of a known Death Eater rather than the Boy-Who-Lived." Harry said with annoyance. No matter what Dumbledore said, he would never, ever forgive Snape for that.

Bones looked even more shocked than before, "...Sirius Black is innocent?" Harry sighed, and decided to tread lightly.

"It was Pettigrew, ma'am. Sirius was never the secret keeper of my parents. I found out in their Will Reading that they had turned a fast one over the general public. They made it seem like Sirius was the secret keeper but in actuality it was Pettigrew. He was the one who betrayed my parents and sent Voldemort to Godric's Hollow." Harry elaborated in a flat tone.

"And what of Muggles that were killed?"

"It was Pettigrew, from what I know, he lived the rest of the twelve years as the Weasley Family's rat," Harry said, his tone disgusted. The man had lived and slept with _children_ on a bed as a rat. Hell, he'd even went behind robes as a rat!

Disgusting.

Bones herself looked green, "Wasn't this the same rat that lived with Percival, and then the youngest, Ronald?" She asked.

"The one and only," Harry answered.

Bones was silent the entire time and Harry found himself getting worried. Would she just blow him off? Would she just laugh and ask Auror to send him away? Well, okay, maybe not, but still, this was about Sirius. His godfather, the only remaining part of Harry's family and he couldn't help but be nervous.

Finally, she sighed, "Rest assured, Lord Potter, I shall look into the matter. I could arrange a trial using my considerable authority as the Head of DMLE and I'll get the Kiss on Sight order removed."

"You can do that?"

"Of course, it falls into my authority to capture criminals. If I deem it necessary to interrogate any criminal then I can overrule the Minister's orders." She answered with a smirk.

Harry grinned.

Oh, Fudge. It starts now, you've dug your own grave.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry woke up earlier than he usually did. For a while, he just stared at the ceiling, taking in the various designs of creatures like snakes, dragons and whatnot. He was glad not to have to deal with Ron's snoring the entire night. One of the main reasons that he asked for a separate room.

Well, that and for once, he'd have a room that isn't complete shit. Well, mostly. The bed is at least a thousand times better than the one he had at the Dursleys anyway and if everything goes according to plan, he'll never have to see the whale, the horse and the baby whale ever again.

His stomach tied up in knots at the thought of the plan. Even if he did act confident while he was with Sirius, he wasn't actually feeling as confident. Oh, he was confident in the plan alright, but he wasn't confident in himself that he wouldn't muck it up.

Feeling apprehensive about what's about to come, he got up on his bed and out of the room to be among people. While he'd normally prefer solitude to think, he'd rather not be by himself right now. At least someone like Sirius or Tonks might be able to take his mind off how he might screw the whole thing up and make the situation worse than it already is. For all he knows, Fudge might not even care about his screw-ups, and he'd proclaim Harry to be Cedric's killer and place him in Azkaban.

Harry nearly slapped himself.

Don't think about such things. He told himself. It's what he's been telling himself from yesterday. With a scowl, he forced himself to straighten up and walk briskly down the stairs, trying to walk with the quiet confidence that he saw in the pictures of his dad in his Seventh Year.

Harry took a shower, thank goodness for the shower being installed, he preferred it over the bathtub. Picking out a cool blue and black robes, with a white undershirt, that looked different from Snape's usual robes, and very comfortable dress shoes. Normally, he'd wear a tuxedo or something but this was a Wizengamot Hearing so he had to look the part. He quickly fastened the Potter Crest on the side of his chest. he tied his hair in the short ponytail form and tried to straighten the mess on the top. He succeeded for once due to the longer length. He looked at himself in the mirror and placed his glasses.

He walked downstairs to find almost everyone but Ron already on the table. It seems like he'd taken more time to get ready than he thought.

Hermione was the first one to notice him coming, and her face took on a shocked expression. Whether it was because he had actually dressed to impress or the fact that he was before the usual time he wakes, he didn't know. Ginny followed her line of sight and her face reddened slightly.

That gave him a slight ego boost.

"Salutations." He greeted blandly and the rest looked up, each of them having similar expressions of shock or amusement on their faces. Harry took a seat between George and Hermione. The crazier of the twins grinned.

"Salutations, dear comrade!" George bellowed.

"Looks like you're dressed to impressed, my comrade!" Fred said with a grin. Harry grinned back with uncertainty.

"Well, I wanted to make a better impression, first to the Ministry of Magic, you know." The twins nodded in agreement.

"True, true, but nothing wrong with wanting to look good!" George said. Harry gave a mock-pompous scoff.

"I always look good." Fred snorted and Harry glared at him playfully.

"Something wrong, Gred?" Fred blinked, clearly unused that someone had guessed which of the twins he was with such certainty before he smirked.

"Oh yes, you always look good, except for that time when you arrived at the Yule Ball." He said sagely.

"With hair looking worse than usual," George said.

"Glancing at Chang so miserably,"

"Totally ignoring his date,"

"Poor Parvati,"

"Poor Padma, for being stuck with our brother,"

"Alright, I get it," Harry said with a slight dusting of red on his cheeks. He wasn't very proud of how he acted during the Yule Ball. He did want to have fun, but it was with Cho, not with anyone else. Ron being a jealous prat because Hermione went with Viktor and making her cry in front of the whole school didn't help things.

Mainly the last one, he had no idea how to deal with a crying female and that utterly destroyed his mood for the rest of the night.

He rolled his eyes at the twins, "Plus, it's not my fault that Ron decided to scream at Hermione in front of the whole school." He said.

"That's... okay, that's true," Fred said with a shrug.

"And I was a bit stressed, if you couldn't tell. You know, being in a tournament that's known to kill people and all that." Harry said dryly. Sirius, who had been quietly reading the Daily Prophet and grumbling at the contents from time to time, looked at Harry with a deadpan expression.

"If you were stressed, why the heck didn't you score?" He asked. Harry blinked.

"Score?" Fred and George snorted.

"Ickle Harrikens?"

"Score?"

"Why he's too innocent for that!"

"Poor baby Harrikens." Ginny and Hermione giggled at Harry's slightly confused face before they burst into laughter when a look of comprehension dawned on his face. He turned slightly redder.

"I'll have you know, any girl in the School would be happy to relieve me of some of the stress," Harry said with an annoyed expression. Sirius shrugged.

"Maybe they would, but you're not taking advantage of things. Why back in my day-"

"You were humping the leg of everything with breasts? Yeah, I can guess." Harry said with a smirk and Remus choked on his laughter, the twins had no such restraints and laughed out loud. Ginny giggled while Hermione was trying very hard to look disapproving but her shaking shoulders told another story.

Sirius sputtered, "N-no! Well, okay, maybe there is a partial truth in it-" he ignored Remus' teasing, "Partial?" and continued, "but so was your dad! He was trying to make your mum jealous by literally flirting with every girl in his year and the one above and below but her." Remus snorted.

"Oh, it worked wonders. Remember when he flirted with Mary McDonald?" Sirius snickered.

"Sixth Year, James flirted with one of Lily's best friends, Mary McDonald, and Lily looked like she was about to kill her friend," Sirius said with a smirk and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"And why was he flirting with everyone but mum?" He enquired.

Remus smiled, "James and Lily hated each other until their Third Year. Mostly because Snape and James hated each other. Snape was Lily's best friend." Harry choked on his spit as did the twins. Hermione patted his back even though he could tell she was shocked.

"S-S-Snape? Are we talking about the same greasy git who likes to make my life hell?" Harry asked with a look that screamed 'explain, now'. Sirius chuckled.

"We didn't know how they were friends either. Snape literally hated everyone, and I mean everyone. He made remarks about blood-purity many times, but Lily was never there to see it." Remus scoffed.

"Lily never believed us because you and James made it your life's mission to torture Severus." Harry looked at Sirius with wide eyes.

"You bullied him?" Sirius sobered up and cringed.

"We pranked him... okay, fine. We bullied him." Sirius admitted after seeing Remus' gaze. Harry just looked at him with shocked eyes. He _hated _bullies with a passion. He had spent his entire life being bullied by people like Dudley and Vernon, making him develop an innate sense of hatred towards bullies. To hear Sirius and his _father _was a bully was a bitter pill to swallow.

But then he paused, there is no way that Lily Evans, who from what he heard was the kindest person ever, would marry a bully. A terrible feeling overcame him, did his dad... force her to marry him?

No there's no way.

"I don't know what you're thinking Harry, but I want you to know that your father changed," Remus spoke up, breaking Harry out of his trance. He glared at Sirius.

"You were bullies? Are you kidding me?" Harry stood up, his mood plummeting. If James Potter bullied Snape then it would explain why the Potions Master hated him so much. Maybe he never stopped hating his father because he thought that he, Harry too was a bully!

"Harry, Lily would never marry James if he continued acting as he did." Harry looked uncomfortable and angry, but he was also confused. He hated bullies, but he couldn't hate his dad. Remus said he had changed?

"He changed?" Sirius stopped and took a deep breath.

"Look, Harry, I'm not proud of what we did back then, but I promise you, he only people we targeted was Death Eater spawns. Yes, maybe sometimes we took a prank too far, but James was willing to change for Lily. I just... wish that it didn't take what it took to make him change."

"What happened?" Sirius had a grim expression on his face.

"James and his aunt, Elora Potter were stuck in a cottage, Death Eaters attacked and she... didn't survive. James himself was put under the Cruciatus Curse for who knows how long. He went missing for nearly a week before his parents found him in the Rosier's Household. God, he never looked that horrible before." Sirius looked like he was remembering something truly horrifying. Harry himself looked horrified before his schooled his features.

He had been under the Cruciatus Curse before, and even if it was only for a short period, it still gave him nightmares. To hear his father was kidnapped, tortured for a week, and was put under the same curse for an unknown amount of time was truly horrifying.

Sirius shook his head and let out a sigh, "He blamed himself for her death. Completely ignoring the fact that he was tortured into near insanity. That's where you get it from Harry, being able to look at other people's problems first. Putting others need in front of yours, it comes from your father. Yes, your father was a bully, but keyword, 'was'. He was willing to change, but Snape didn't. He refused to change for anyone, he's still the same old greasy git as he was back then, it was your father's willingness to change for her and for the Light Side that made her chose him." Sirius looked amused for a second.

"They bickered a lot, though. Even over who would get to change your clothes." Harry who was choking back emotions at Sirius' tale, suddenly gave the man a deadpan look.

"Trust you to ruin a mood, Padfoot." Sirius grinned.

"I hate depressing moments, Prongslet. 'Sides, I was the one who started the mood in the first place." Harry did know that, and he realized that he had completely forgotten about the hearing, which was the main point. He once again felt his insides twisting as he thought about what he had planned to do today. He plowed through the feeling and decided to continue talking to calm his nerves.

"So, my dad was a Cassanova?" Remus, as far as Harry could tell, understood what he was doing and nodded with a smile.

"Up to Third Year, your mum and dad hated each other but somehow, your dad decided that Lily was the one for him in his Fourth Year and began to pester her to go out with him." Remus chuckled then, "I've never seen Lily turn into a deeper shade of red when James sent out a howler for Valentine's day in our Fifth Year." Harry raised an eyebrow.

"How thoughtful," He said sarcastically and Sirius snorted.

"No, he didn't scream into it, he sang into it. It annoyed the heck out of Snape, but flustered the crap out of your mum." Sirius grinned.

"Maybe I can... borrow that idea for myself," Harry said thoughtfully. Well, he had no one to send it to now, but maybe he will someday. Besides, having a howler sing it for you was clever, not to mention not as embarrassing as singing in public.

Hermione smiled, "Oh? Who do you want to send it to, Harry? You aren't holding out on us are you?" She asked, her tone only half-teasing and Harry rolled his eyes playfully.

"Maybe I'll send it to you." Hermione reeled back before blushing slightly.

"Oh really?" She asked and Harry shrugged.

"Anyway, you never told me why my dad was talking up everyone but my mum?" Harry asked, ignoring Hermione's pout. Sirius nodded.

"Your mum finally had enough of James' offers to go out with him in her Fifth Year, and she exploded in the Gryffindor Common Room. I dunno what happened, but James looked like he was expecting it. Anyway, he sort of gave up, but only then I realized that he was doing something called inverse engining?" He scratched his head, thinking of the word. Harry exchanged an amused look with Hermione, while the rest looked just as clueless as Sirius.

"I think he meant 'Reverse Engineering'. He decided to go at it in another way after thinking about the situation, in simple terms." Hermione explained to the rest of the table.

"Yeah, that. It seemingly worked, they got together like on the third day of Seventh Year." Sirius elaborated.

"Lily was too prim and proper to go about the same way James was. She never even had a boyfriend before James."

"And dad did?"

"No true girlfriend for your dad. Sure, he kissed all of the Fifth Year girls and up as a part of a dare in his Fourth Year, and he did chat up 'everything with breasts' as you put it, but no true girlfriend for your dad." Harry had no idea what to respond to that, so he just continued to eat. Molly had sat silently throughout the entire conversation. He had no idea why, but given the disapproving look she was giving his hair, he'd rather not know.

"...Harry, what do you plan for your defense?" Hermione asked and Harry felt the apprehensiveness returning. Really, Hermione, for such a smart witch, she could sometimes ignore simple things. Harry did not want to talk too much about it, lest he begins feeling that same uncertain feeling again.

But, knowing that if he does not answer it might only hurt her or encourage her to pester him even more, he answered,

"Madame Bones said that she'd take care of everything. I've already given her the evidence required to clear me, so, basically, I don't plan on saying a thing. Unless I want to of course." He said. Hermoine's eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you sure you can trust her Harry? I mean, Headmaster Dumbledore must have planned something. What if she's under the Minister's thumb too?" She asked, genuinely worried. Harry smiled at her.

"We can trust her, Tonks trusts her and I trust Tonks." Well, kind of. She's fun to hang out with, but she still takes Dumbledore's words as if it was the Testament. Hermione nodded uncertainly.

"Maybe it would be a good idea to talk to the Minister as well about V-V-Voldemort returning," Hermione said stumbling over the name.

"I do believe that the Lord Noseless name is Voldemort with a single V, not three?" Harry said cheekily with a smirk. She glared at him.

"Harry Potter."

"While he might take Harry's word a bit more seriously, he still won't believe him," Remus said. Harry shrugged.

"The Minister is an incompetent fool, Hermione, the only reason he's still in office is 'cause of Lucius Malfoy lining up Fudge's pockets. Considering most Pureblood families support ole' Lucy, Fudge won't be out of office anytime soon." Sirius nodded thoughtfully.

"The easy way to get him out of office is the prove Voldemort is back." A look of realization dawned on Hermione and Harry pretended to make the same expression, even if this was what _Harry _had told _Sirius_ on the day they had planned to destroy the Ministry and Riddle.

The Mutt.

"If we prove that You-Know-Who is back then it will make Fudge seem like he had endangered entire Britain by ignoring it! " Fred exclaimed.

"Ole' Corny fool would not get out of that one no matter how many bribes." George nodded.

"But how?" They all turned to Harry, who only sipped his tea calmly. He turned to look at them lazily.

"Hmm, you say something?" They all let out a collective twitch at his indifferent attitude. Sirius laughed and thumped Harry on the shoulder. Harry coughed, rubbing his shoulder and glared at his godfather.

"Speaking of which, where is Dumbledore? You'd think he'd be the one to take Harry to the Ministry." Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at the table as a whole as if asking if anyone knew. Molly frowned.

"Albus didn't say, I thought that he'd be the one to take Harry to the Ministry as well." She admitted, looking confused. Harry waved a hand.

"That's alright, it's not like I expected him to inform me of all he planned to do for the day. I mean, number one would get some sherbert lemons, two get that Potter kid out of trouble, three, oh look at those shiny robes, Minerva, I'm sure that Harry had something to do with this, one thousand points to Gryffindor!" Harry said with the most snarky tone he could muster and the twins nearly fell out of their chair laughing.

Molly looked like she was about to laugh herself, "Harry, dear, that's not nice." She admonished. Harry gave her a billion-pound smile.

"Yeah, maybe not sherbert lemon, chocolate frogs seems more like it." He said dryly. Ginny giggled, and Harry smiled.

"Maybe ten points for Harry's eating methods," Ginny said.

"Ten points for sitting down with the rest of the students for the feast," Fred said with a smirk.

"Ten points for picking up the spoon the right way," George said.

"Ten points for breathing properly," Harry said with a smirk. They all snickered.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for smirking." Sirius drawled, sounding an awful lot like a certain greasy-haired Professor.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for whispering too loudly," Remus said.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for breathing too loudly," Fred said.

"Ten points to Slytherin for exploding a cauldron the right way," George said.

"Ten points to Slytherin for using a knife to cut ingredients." Harry drawled and they all laughed louder.

"Honestly, I'm surprised Snape's ass isn't jealous of all the shit that comes out of his mouth," Sirius said with a grin. Molly glared at him.

"Sirius Black, watch your language!" Hermione was the one to say this before Molly could. Harry snickered as Sirius rolled his eyes at the girl.

"Shall I get you a mirror, Black? We'll watch our language together." Harry drawled with a grin and Sirius laughed and slapped Harry on the back. Harry chuckled at the look of outrage on Hermione's face, and she was about to explode when Ronald Weasley finally graced the table with his presence.

"'Ello!" The twins greeted him together and Ron only grumbled something unintelligible and dropped onto the empty chair like a literal sack of potatoes. Harry smirked at Hermione who fumed at being ignored.

"Spoken like a true scholar." Harry said sarcastically and Ron grumbled and glared at him, "Grumpy, are you? What, did Kreacher climb into the bed with you or something?" Sirius laughed again.

Ron shook his head and gave out a chuckle of his own, "I don't get how you're so cheerful on a morning like this." He grunted when his mother piled some food onto his plate. Harry shrugged.

"It's called a sense of humor, you should get one," Harry replied and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, you're about as grumpy and brooding as he is," Hermione said with a huff. Harry scoffed.

"I'm a ray of sunshine on a stormy day," Harry said with a shrug. Ron chuckled once again and looked over at him and nodded.

"Looking good, mate. Plan on a date after the hearing?" Harry frowned.

"Look, Ron, I'm honored, really, but you're not my type. My type has more lady bits and less dangly ones." Harry said with a smirk. Ron choked on his food while the twins laughed again. Hermione herself out a little giggle of her own, even though she looked scandalized.

"Why do attack me with words?" Ron bemoaned after recovering.

"Would you like me to use knives instead?" Harry asked and saw Ron frantically shake his head. Hell, Ron probably thought that Harry was barmy enough to use knives. He wouldn't really, he'd probably use cutting curses.

"...So, Harry, how will you prove you're innocent?" Ron asked casually.

"Harry said Amelia Bones will take care of everything," Hermione informed him. Ron raised an eyebrow.

"That's all good, mate. But what if Fudge just refuses to take her word. You know that he has a higher authority." Ron pointed out. Harry hoped that he wasn't the only one who looked surprised at Ron's insight. A rarity indeed.

Harry noticed that the others in the room looked just as curious has Ron was in his question, minus Sirius. His godfather already knew that he doesn't plan on doing a damn thing, as Amelia Bones would take care of everything, but he did have a backup plan.

He hadn't told anyone the details of what happened with Amelia so he simply shrugged, "'Suppose I'll just offer a Magical Oath or Veritaserum. Heck, Pensieve memories would suffice too, from what Amelia Bones told me." No reason to tell them that she'd also told him that she'll look into Sirius' case and pretty much gave her word that he'd be free.

"Magical Oath is not something Fudge would be able to deny." Sirius nodded, playing along not revealing Harry's plan to take over Magical Britain.

"Considering that he's a lord now, Veritaserum is something he'll be able to demand." Ginny piped up, and Sirius' face darkened. Harry knew that he had been denied the Veritaserum trial even considering that he was an adult and the Heir of a Most Ancient and Noble House.

Harry nudged Sirius' leg with his foot, seeing Ginny become a bit uncomfortable at his dark expression, Sirius grunted but said nothing. AN awkward silence set over the table and Harry rolled his neck, feeling the satisfying pops.

"You know, I was thinking of getting a few contact lenses too. I don't want to wear these glasses, they're annoying." Harry informed Sirius who shrugged.

"Alright, kid. Get some more clothes, Muggle fashion, for me will you?" Harry shrugged.

"Sure thing, old man." Sirius' face twitched for a second in annoyance before he ruffled Harry's hair. Harry grunted, his hair was a lot more manageable after it had grown in length, but he still had no intention of getting it messier than it possibly could be.

"Right, so, good luck," Sirius said with a smile, and Harry grinned back, appearing more confident than he usually did, or more than he actually felt right now. Sirius picked up on this and smirked.

"...Fudge must be trembling right now, Harry Potter is after him!" Sirius said dramatically and Harry scowled.

"Hey, you know what, my middle finger likes you," Harry said and flipped him off, Sirius barked out a laugh. Harry realized with horror that he acted exactly how Sirius said he himself acted when he was younger.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Harry cackled and Sirius hugged him. Harry hugged him back and quickly grabbed a grim reaper look-alike Tonks as she was groggily walking down the stairs, already ready with her Auror robes on.

She squealed when Harry pulled her along, "Harry!"

"Tonks!" Harry parroted. Tonks slapped him on his chest multiple times, but she seems to have only succeeded in hurting her hand.

"Ouch, what are you made of?!" She cried out.

"Can't you feel it? It's pure muscle." Harry replied cheekily.

"But I haven't even had breakfast yet!" Tonks whined.

"We'll get something on the way, I want something spicy anyway." Tonks pouted when Harry said this, thrusting her bottom lip at him and then grinned deviously at him. Harry paused in his attempts to grab Floo Powder.

"...How about me?" She said flirtily, changing her hair to blonde and eyes to blue. Harry coughed and let go of her.

"...I'm not sure Sirius would appreciate me eating his cousin," Harry said slowly. Tonks giggled.

"Sirius' snout doesn't belong in my business and who I date certainly comes under 'my business'," Tonks replied.

Harry grumbled, "Maybe he'll latch on to your business then, maybe then he'll stop bitching about me not getting laid yet." He said and Tonks choked on her laughter.

"...Seriously?" She asked, watching him as he picked a pinch of Floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace.

"Yeah. Just because he can't hold a second before humping the leg of everything that has breasts, doesn't mean we all have to be like him." Harry said dryly. Tonks laughed again and Harry grinned.

"Diagon Alley," Harry said. He'd asked Sirius how the house was connected to anther Floo Network, considering that it was widely believed that this house was empty. Sirius replied that the Floo in the Diagon Alley is owned by a Half-Blood member of the Order.

Harry bowed dramatically, "Ladies first." Tonks smiled.

"Your godfather's house, you go." She said. Harry shrugged with an easy smile but made no move.

"...Harry?"

"Yeah, love?"

"Is there a reason you're not going?"

"I am, just... wondering how badly I'm going to embarrass myself when I fall down," Harry mumbled. Tonks sighed.

"Well, look on the bright side, if you fall, I'm going to fall on you." She said teasingly. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I can't express my joy." He said sarcastically. He walked through the Floo. He felt a tug on his navel but still kept walking. Finally, there was a whoosh of air and he stopped. Opening his eyes, he saw the same place he and Remus landed on the day they went to Gringotts.

Except, he was on his own two feet.

Harry blinked, twice. Finally, a slow grin spread across his face.

But the elation didn't last long as Tonks crashed into him. Sending them both onto the ground.

Tonks screamed, grabbing his jacket and pulling him down and he fell on top of her. He heard wolf-whistles and people grumbling about 'getting a room'. Harry opened his eyes once again to see wide-blue eyes looking back into his own.

Harry flushed a deep red, picking himself up and helping Tonks up like the gentleman he was. Tonks apologized, not looking as flustered as he was.

"S-s-sorry." Harry sighed but nodded. Harry offered his arm, again like the gentleman he was, which was taken by the woman, the pair began to walk out of the store and Tonks took a deep breath, letting go of his arm before looking at him with a smirk.

"So, did you like my perfume?" Harry glared at her.

"Minx." She giggled and grabbed his arm.

They apparated quickly out of the area, Amelia Bones had let them directly into her office, allowing them direct access by adding exceptions to the anti-Apparation wards, some of the strongest in Magical Britain. Harry nearly fell over again, but Tonks quickly caught him before he would make a fool of himself in front of the Head of DMLE.

Said woman was already waiting for them, watching them with amusement.

Harry dusted off his suit, it was a new one dammit! He looked at Amelia who raised an eyebrow expectedly. He gave a smile, putting all of his charms into it, grasping her hand gently and brushed his lips against her knuckles.

"Lady Bones." He greeted.

"Lord Potter, I see you have dressed up to the occasion." Eyeing his new robes with satisfaction after greeting Tonks with a nod. Harry grinned.

"I have, yes. May I say, you look utterly fetching." He said flirtatiously, his eyes raking over her figure. Amelia snorted.

"Why thank you. I would have you know, this is the way I usually dress." She said flatly.

"A Natural beauty, I see," Harry replied cheekily. As if she was used to such comments, Amelia rolled her eyes. She waved him over to the desk and the chair that he had sat on that day. He inclined his head and sat down.

"...So, we're just going to gloss over what we discussed once again?" Harry enquired. Amelia nodded shortly.

"Yes. Repeat what I had told you." She demanded. Harry blew out a strand of hair out of his face and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Yeah, sure. Explain my case, throw into our beloved Minister's face that it's within my rights to share my story regardless of how ludicrous it might sound, and then keep my mouth shut and answer your questions." He said in a bored tone.

"And?" Harry grunted.

"Keep my temper in check." He said in defeat.

"Good, seems like you will be fine in the hearing. I-" She was interrupted when an owl, standard Ministry used one flew into through the door and landed on her desk. She frowned and untied the letter.

As she read it, her eyes seemed to narrow. As she seemed to finish reading the letter, she was fuming. Harry exchanged a worried look with Tonks, who looked just as confused as he felt, as evidenced by her changing hair color.

"Uh... is there something wrong?" Harry asked hesitantly. Amelia's eyes snapped over to his and he stood straighter, but her anger didn't seem to be directed at him, thankfully enough. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Yes, the Minister has changed the time of Hearing. It is ten minutes from now." Harry blinked.

"What." He said blankly.

"I said-"

"But the hearing is in two hours! What is- oh, that son of a bitch." Harry said, the final part coming out in a growl. Tonks' hair turned orange as she seemed to figure out what it meant. Amelia's nostrils flared.

"We're Apparating. Do you have any objections?" She asked. Normally, Harry would never pick Apparation as a method of transport willingly unless he learned it himself. Side-Apparation wasn't his thing, but now, the situation demanded it.

"Sure, keep me steady," Harry answered. She quirked an eyebrow but nodded.

"You two go on, I'll head back. Tell me how it goes," Tonks said, directing the last part at Harry. Harry nodded, he _had _dragged her away before she had breakfast, but seeing that as the trial got preponed, it was a good choice. She waved before Apparating away.

Amelia grasped his shoulder firmly and Apparated out quickly. Harry felt the annoyingly familiar tug at his navel. He stumbled, just as he had expected, but Amelia held on to his shoulder firmly and prevented him from falling down. Harry groaned silently at the feeling, before looking around the area and his eyes widened.

They were standing at one end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. The peacock-blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that were continually moving and changing like some enormous heavenly notice board. The walls on each side were paneled in shiny dark wood and had many gilded fireplaces set into them. Halfway down the hall was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water were flying from the ends of the two wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and each of the house-elf's ears, so that the tinkling hiss of falling water was added to the pops and cracks of Apparators and the clatter of footsteps as hundreds of witches and wizards, most of whom were wearing glum, early-morning looks, strode toward a set of golden gates at the far end of the hall.

"This way, Lord Potter," Amelia said. Harry followed her through a private doorway that said 'Members of Wizengamot'. It was a private entrance, Harry realized.

At the entrance to what Harry saw to be a large hall, already filled with people, there was a familiar tall, dark-haired man that Harry recognized.

"Sam?" The man looked up.

"Lord Potter." He nodded at Harry. His eyes turned to Amelia and he gave a quick salute, "Madam Bones, the court will be in session in a few minutes."

"Auror Drake is there a reason why you're the one who's doing the security work?" Amelia demanded. Sam smirked.

"Quick Galleons." Was his simple answer, "Anyway, if I may check your wands, I'll send you in on your way." He said. Harry took his wand out of his wand-holster and offered it to him. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Mad-Eye would be proud." He said with a roll of his eyes. Amelia gave her wand after Sam returned Harry's to him after muttering a few spells under his breath. He did the same to Amelia's wand before handing them both back.

"His imposter paraded about in Hogwarts last year. After getting attacked in the toilet to prove 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE', my brain has just accepted my paranoia," Harry said dryly. Sam smirked and motioned for him to head inside.

"Everything is in order, head in. Good luck, lad." Harry nodded to the man and followed Amelia inside. There, Harry saw the pudgy figure of Minister Fudge sitting in a booth that is directly opposite to a chair in the center of the hall. There was an ugly pink toad beside Fudge, whose eyes seemed to be practically glowing with glee.

"...Members of Wizengamot, we are gathered here on account of the trial for one Harry James Potter, fifteen, offenses include; Utter disregard for the Statute of Secrecy by performing a Patronus Charm in a Muggle area in front of a Muggle." Fudge's glee was hard to dismiss and with the fact that Amelia was practically fuming beside him, he wasn't the only one who noticed that.

"Mister Potter has seemingly decided that he is far above the law, seeing as he has yet to appear." The toad lady pointed out with a voice that churned Harry's stomach. Fudge seemed to smile.

"Very well, since Mister Potter has decided not to appear and ignore the Wizengamot, those who decide his expulsion and the snapping of his wand say-"

"Is that right?" Harry's voice cut in before the man could utter another word.

There was a silence, most of the members of the Wizengamot seemed to stare at him, while Fudge seemed to pale. Then he turned red.

"Mister Potter, you are late." Harry's eyes narrowed.

"It is Lord Potter to you, Minister." He answered coldly, taking in great satisfaction in watching the man pale once again. There were mutterings and exclamations from the members around him.

"THERE IS NO WAY THAT IS POSSIBLE!" A woman seemed to screech. She had brown hair and her face seemed reminiscent to that of a pug. Harry realized that this must be Pansy Parkinson's mother. The mum is uglier than the daughter and he didn't know that was possible.

"LIAR!" Harry pointed his ring at them, and they fell into a stunned silence.

"Rings don't lie now, do they? If you believe that this isn't real, feel free to take it up to the Goblins. I'm sure they'll be more than willing to... clear your confusion." Harry said, smiling coldly at the woman.

"Hem hem." The fake sound of the throat-clearing was the worst sound Harry ever heard. Harry looked disgusted when the toad lady looked at him with such malice in the eyes, betraying the stomach-churningly sweet smile on the face of the toad.

"Now, now, Mister Potter, you shouldn't lie to the Wizengamot." The toad lady said in a sickeningly sweet tone that made Harry want to rinse his eyes just for looking at her.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Lord Potter." Harry corrected coldly.

The woman, loosely speaking, seemed to turn red in anger but Amelia quickly interjected, "The House of Bones has investigated the claims of Lord Potter and has indeed identified him as the Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. The ring is indeed the real one, the magic surrounding the ring is indeed that of the Potter family. The Wizengamot identifies Lord Potter." She said hitting the gavel on the hard stone. She then turned to Fudge and narrowed her eyes.

"How nice of you to inform me of the change in schedule, Minister." She said coldly without preamble. Fudge flinched.

"W-w-well, we had sent the owl. It isn't the Minister's fault that the owl doesn't reach you in time." His stutter was an obvious give away that the man was lying. Plus the fact that his tone seemed to take on a tone of nervousness and the beads of sweat on his forehead, clearly indicated that he wasn't expecting them to actually reach the place.

"It would have been a shame if you expelled Lord Potter out of Hogwarts and snapped his wand without the trial even starting. I mean, you cannot banish a Lord and erase his memories, now can you?" Harry said with a smirk. There were furious mutterings in the crowd, one man, blonde hair and ice-blue eyes stood up.

"If you are indeed Lord Potter, then perhaps you can explain it to the Wizengamot how it came to be? You are only fifteen if I remember correctly." The man said, his tone all business. He had heard a similar tone before.

Sharing a glance with Amelia Bones, Harry said, "Yes, sir, I am indeed fifteen. However, the reason I am able to take up my Lordship even if I am not of age is thanks to Minister Fudge." Harry said. Fudge clearly didn't like that.

"What?! I have done no such thing!" He said, sneering at Harry. Harry shook his head.

"Wrong, Minister. When you sent the summons for me to be tried in the full attendance of the Wizengamot, you yourself recognized me as an adult. According to the Ancient Charter of Magic, something that predates the Wizemgamot and has also been accepted into the Wizengamot, 'Anyone being tried under the Wizengamot must be an adult, as in a Wizard or Witch of age seventeen or above', since I am being tried it means that the Wizengamot has accepted me as an adult and therefore so has Magic herself." Harry explained with a cold smirk.

Amelia smirked when she saw the angry expression on the Minister's face. She hit the gavel once more to order silence in the court.

"Very well, let us-"

"You cannot let the matter go, Minister!" The toad interrupted her. Harry thought he was going to be sick.

"What is it now?" Asked Amelia more than a little annoyed right now.

The toad sneered and pointed at Harry, "There is no way that brat is a Lord! He is a liar, have you forgotten that he has accused the death of Cedric Diggory on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?!" There were numerous mutterings that seemingly agreed with what the toad said. Harry sighed.

With a victorious smirk, she said, "Aurors! Seize him and remove that ring!"

Harry growled at an Auror who dared to take a step towards him. The woman paled, and backed off, hopefully remembering that the Aurors were under Amelia's control and not a toad's.

"Are you accusing me of killing Cedric...madam?" Harry asked in a low, threatening tone. The woman smiled sweetly.

"Liars don't get to speak, hand the ring over, Mister Potter." Harry gritted his teeth at the disrespect being shown. Taking a deep breath, opening his eyes, Harry glared at the woman with such force that he was surprised she didn't spontaneously combust.

"...Minister Fudge, if you want to keep your house free of a blood feud, control your pet toad." Harry growled. Fudge paled, the woman, however, turned red.

"YOU-"

"ENOUGH!" Amelia interrupted the toad jumped and looked at Amelia, "Aurors daring to take a step towards Lord Potter are fired." The rest of the Aurors stopped in their task, one person, in particular, looked more than a little unhappy, glaring at Harry, who glared with heat enough to melt his body, "Need I remind you that you work for me, and not _anyone_ else?!" She demanded. She turned to the toad.

"Escort Delores Umbridge out of the session. She has insulted not only the Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter but also the only remaining blood heir of House Peverell," There were several gasps, "and a major ally of House Bones. Insult him again, Under Secretary and you will be roast before you can even say 'Minister'." A few snickers were scattered across the hall. An older looking lady with a hat having a gigantic vulture on her head stood up.

"The House of Longbottom supports the decision of House Bones." She said. Harry recognized her as the grandmother of Neville. He smiled and bowed slightly, she paused, before giving a slight bow back.

There were expressions of glee being scattered across the hall as Aurors seized her by the hands and dragged her, it seems that no one really liked the toad.

Wonder why. Harry thought to himself dryly, glaring at her as she was dragged out of the hall, calling for 'Cornelius' in a high-pitched squealing voice that was reminiscent of a pig.

"Now, let's get this farce of a trial on the way. Not all of us have to waste time on a trial for something so utterly silly as Underage Magic." Fudge flinched.

"Now, Amelia-"

"That is Madam Bones to you Minister." She interrupted coldly. Harry said nothing and just enjoyed the show.

"Yes, yes, Madam Bones, but Mis-Lord Potter has indeed broken the Statute of Secrecy, clearly you can see that?" Amelia glared at him.

"I have already investigated the case and have taken both Pensieve memories as well as a Magical Oath that the memories are real. Lord Potter was attacked by Dementors in Privet Drive, where he lives." Fudge scoffed.

"Dementors, I don't know what the boy has told you-"

"Minister Fudge." The man seemed to remember who he was talking to and winced, "I have checked the memories time and again for any tamperings and have found none. He did not tell me anything but has instead given me his memories of the night." She repeated with gritted teeth.

Harry smirked at the man as Amelia continued, "Even if Lord Potter had indeed performed Underage Magic, he has performed it in the presence of his cousin, Dudley Dursley. Who Lord Potter had lived with for as long as he can remember. Am I right, Lord Potter?"

"Yes, Madam Bones. I was placed under the... care of my Muggle Aunt and Uncle as they were the last remnant of my family. I would like to inform you that this was done against the express wishes of my father and mother." Harry replied.

"It is possible that his cousin does not know about magic!" Fudge looked desperate now. Harry snorted.

"Please, Minister. Excluding the fact that a representative from Hogwarts actually _came _to the house, how do you think my relatives explained to my cousin about where I disappear off to for ten months of a year?" Harry challenged with a raised eyebrow.

There was silence as the members contemplated this. Most people already looked annoyed at Fudge to be here for something so silly, but now, they looked furious. To think they had wasted their time for a trial that barely lasted five minutes. Several people glared at Fudge who cringed and turned away. With a roll of her eyes at how simple the matter was Madam Bones spoke to the hall as a whole,

"All those in favor of Lord Potter being acquitted of all charges?" There was an overwhelming majority in favor of this. The only two people who seemed to be against him were the Parkinson lady and a fat troll who Harry guessed was either the father of Crabbe or Goyle.

"All those in favor of Lord Potter being charged?" Fudge raised his wand, it's tip alit, along with Parkinson and the troll. Harry smiled, that was way too easy.

"Very well, the court recognizes Lord Hadrian James Potter being cleared of all charges. On behalf of the Ministry, I would like to apologize to everyone who has wasted their time to attend this session. Special apologies to Lord Potter for being charged with something so silly, The Ministry offers a sum of one thousand galleons, please accept this as a token of apology." Amelia said and Harry shrugged.

"I accept, formally." He said.

"The court session has ended," Amelia said with a hit of her gavel, signaling the end of the Wizengamot session. Harry saw several members exiting the hall with grumbles and glares being directed at Fudge.

Amelia glanced at him, and Harry sucked in a deep breath. It was time for the main event.

"Minister Fudge, Lord Potter-Peverell requests your attendance in a private meeting." Many of the Lords and Ladies paused at the sound of Harry's voice, but continued on, they knew the rules and also knew, that it was none of their business.

Fudge looked like he had swallowed something rotten, "Lord Potter, is there a reason why you asked my presence in such a manner?" Harry smiled fakely.

"It shall be discussed in private, should you accept of course." Harry mentally smirked. There is no way the Minister would decline his invitation. Not only would that be disrespectful to the House Potter and Peverell, but also put him in even more thin ice with them due to the toad's actions before.

Fudge clearly knew this and gritted his teeth.

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"Thank you for accepting my invitation Minister," Harry said with a smirk that he knew annoyed the Minister.

They were currently in the Minister's office. Harry's first opinion of the office was that it was absolute shit. It very very bland, very few items that are actually interesting. No, that's not right, the only interesting item was a Pensieve at the corner that seems to be gathering dust from misuse.

Harry's keen eyesight from years of training as a Seeker didn't miss letters that were addressed from several prominent Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy, Avery, Nott Sr. among others. This confirmed Harry's speculations, the Death Eaters were bribing the fool for keeping quiet about Voldy.

How the idiot didn't recognize something was wrong after several quotes, acquitted Death Eaters sent him letters to ignore Harry and Dumbles' claims of Voldemonkey was beyond him.

Fudge's face reddened, "Y-yes, well, let's got on with what you have to say, shall we? I am the Minister, after all, I am a very busy man." He said pompously. Harry internally groaned at the tone, but outwardly he only gave a bright smile.

"Of course, Minister. I have a few... differences with you, that I feel shouldn't exist." Harry said softly, "as you are aware," He flashed his ring at the man, and saw him narrow his eyes, "I am Lord Potter and as Madam Bones has informed you, I am also Lord Peverell. I have an alliance with House Bones and while I have yet to renew the Potter-Longbottom alliance, rest assured it will be done in due time." Fudge grunted.

"Where are you going with this, Lord Potter?" Harry 'tutted'.

"Impatient are we? Very well, I have an alliance with several Houses that I plan on renewing which means that your next election... I have considerable... sway." Harry said carefully, watching the man with sharp eyes and smirked when Fudge took in a sharp breath.

"Are you blackmailing me, Lord Potter?" He demanded. Harry shook his head.

"Oh no, Minister, I want to guarantee your re-election... provided you undo some... injustices that have occurred to me and those I consider my friends and family," Harry replied smoothly. Fudge glared at him.

"I will have you know, Lord Potter that You-Know-Who is-"

"It isn't about Voldemort, Minister." Fudge flinched at the name, and Harry internally rolled his eyes.

A name is what they're afraid of. How the hell will they fight him if they actually go face to face?

"I-I-It isn't?" Fudge asked.

"Nope, it is about my godfather." Fudge's nervousness seemed to vanish immediately.

"Sirius Black! Why I ought to-" Harry glared at him and he froze.

"_Lord _Sirius Black, Minister Fudge," Harry said softly with a dangerous edge to his voice.

"It doesn't matter, he-"

"Is innocent."

"Confounded, is what you are! Black has confounded you!"

"Did you know he never had a trial?" Fudge froze once again and Harry grinned.

"...What?" He breathed.

"The _previous_ Minister, Millicent Bagnod and the previous Head of DMLE had never given Sirius Black a trial." Harry put an emphasis on previous and watched as the man's face lit up in glee.

"He never had a trial?" Harry smiled brightly.

"I see you get it, Minister. No, Sirius was never given a trial. I had asked Madam Bones to look into the matter of Sirius' trial but there wasn't one. He was just tossed into Azkaban without one and has spent twelve years in the place when he could be innocent all along." Fudge frowned.

"Lord Potter, even if he was never given a trial, everyone knew that your father and Black were as close as brothers. Black was the secret-keeper-"

"No Minister. You're wrong. You are right in saying that Sirius and my dad were just as close as brothers, but Sirius was not my parent's secret-keeper. It was Pettigrew." Harry informed him.

"Pettigrew is dead!"

"I thought so too." Harry said with guilt, he had thought that Sirius was the monster who got his parents killed, and he regretted it to this day, "Pettigrew was a rat Animagus that lived with the Weasleys as their pet." Even Fudge looked disgusted at this.

"Am I to assume that you have informed Amelia Bones of this, Lord Potter?" Fudge said, even if he still looked skeptical.

"As a matter of fact yes, she has taken off the 'kiss on sight' order. But since you are here, I will give you a Magical copy that the Goblins have given me of my parent's will." Harry handed the parchment to the Minister who took it cautiously.

Harry watched as the man's face turned pale as he reached the part where it was revealed that Pettigrew was the secret keeper to throw off Voldyshorty, and saw stars in his eyes when he realized that what is implied.

Harry took the parchment back and grinned mentally. Reputation was more important to Fudge than money.

Then he looked disappointed, "Still, Lord Potter, Black killed those Muggles. Even if we prove that Black is innocent of being the secret keeper, it still leaves the issue of him being a murderer!"

Harry merely smiled, "Might I suggest something, Minister?" Fudge nodded quickly.

"I suggest you hand over the case to Madam Bones. Then," He leaned forward, "you can, of course, take credit that you have handed over the case to someone who is responsible for it. Amelia Bones is very willing to restart the case, and then you can be seen as the administration that righted the mistakes of the predecessor." Harry said smoothly. He could see the gears turning in Fudge's head and Harry was glad that he didn't have to reveal any of his blackmailing material. He could save them for later.

"Might I suggest that you stop slandering my name in the Daily Prophet?" Fudge scowled but nodded.

"Then you have my support, Minister." Harry smiled deviously and offered the Minister a hand. The man shook it with a grin and Harry could already see the headlines for tomorrow.

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_I'm not actually satisfied with this chapter. Oh well, leave a review._


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